Breaking Point
by Blank The Snivy
Summary: Eggman has finally been driven to the point of insanity. Out of pure determination and insanity, he risks everything to become the weapon he truly desires. No more robots, just brute force and a psychotic smile. DISCONTINUED
1. Prologue

**Disclaimer: Sonic and co. © Sega**

Prologue: What He Did for Power

_Just when I thought I knew everything about him, I turned out to be wrong. I never would've thought he would go so far just to win._

Large clouds of smoke swirled out of houses and cars engulfed in red hot flames. The black smoke rising into the dark gray sky along with the cries for salvation that emanated from the injured and dying. In the middle of a battle torn city, atop a cluster of destroyed tanks, robots and soldiers, stood a large burly man about fifteen feet tall. In the man's hand he held a small blue hedgehog by the neck. Only moments before had the hedgehog engaged the brute in combat and lost. Now the hedgehog was being lifted off of the ground, looking at his foe for probably the last time. The man had arms so big, they were thicker then a Christmas ham and could level a building in almost a second. This brute of a man wore a large pair of black pants and black boots, created just to suit his size and had a long orange mustache extending about three inches from his face. But the most disturbing feature on the man was his long ear-to-ear psychotic smile.

_He did so many things for power and he lost control of himself during his journey._

The blue hedgehog that was clenched in the brutes hand was gasping for air. Knowing that his foe's death was upon him made the brute giddy, but he didn't want to kill him quickly, that would be no fun. He watched through his small circular glasses at the spasming creature that was trying to wriggle out of his hand. A quick death for the creature would be boring, but watching him writhe in pain would be pure entertainment for the man.

_He became a monster for power . . . _

Before the brute could inflict more pain onto the hedgehog, a car slammed into his side. The vehicle bounced off of the brute like some large inflatable ball before smashing into the ground with a loud explosion. Not too far away from the giant, a bruised and bloody red echidna panted heavily, the energy he used to throw the car was probably his last. The hulking figure threw the blue hedgehog aside, before slowly walking toward the injured echidna. Even with all of the destruction surrounding him, the brute still smiled psychotically as if he liked the destruction around him.

_Memories were cast off for power . . ._

The man was now towering over the defenseless echidna, who was now on both knees and looking up at him. The echidna took in a deep breath and spit at the man's face, the loogie hitting the brute's cheek. The man wiped the spit off of him and with the same hand, punched the echidna in the face, causing him to skid backwards. Fatigue and mental stress were the only things that stopped the echidna from getting back up and miraculously he felt no pain. Once the man was over the echidna once again, he raised his foot above the echidna's head and left it hovering there. A smile made its way across the echidna's face, he wasn't afraid of death.

"Hope you burn in hell after this." said the echidna with his last breath.

The man's smile grew bigger at the statement. "I hope I do to, this Satan character seems like my type of friend." He said breezily.

_Dignity and self respect were lost for power . . ._

Groaning in pain, the blue hedgehog rolled his body over just in time to see his red echidna friend get smashed into the concrete street by the man's foot. Bones were heard cracking, as the brute applied a little bit more pressure onto the echidna, as if he was a bug on the bottom of his shoe. The gruesome scene caused a small tear to cascade down the hedgehog's face, the loss of another friend just too much for him. He had already lost some much before and he was starting to reach his limit. The man then lifted his foot off of the mangled echidna, blood and bones staing the bottom of the monster's shoe. He turned around to see his blue hedgehog foe crying, his sadness now causing the man to give out a psychotic laugh of delight.

_Sanity was destroyed for power . . ._

As the man laughed, he began to walk toward the hedgehog. All of the man's dreams were now coming true and the death of his enemy was not too far now. But the man suddenly stopped in his tracks as ideas suddenly popped into the man's head, each idea involving some cruel death for the hedgehog. His mind wasn't used for killing anymore, it was used for mutilation and torture now.

"I wonder how fast you would go if I broke your legs." The large man said in a curious tone, his smile growing even bigger. The man was closing in on the hedgehog, who was trying to crawl away.

This was a nightmare. Everything was going wrong for the hedgehog. He's supposed to be the hero that would save the world. He was supposed to save the day and live happily ever after with all of his friends. Now he's been reduced to a crawling weakling trying to hide from death.

"Your head will like fine over my fireplace, hedgehog. It would go well with the bat head and my new echidna." said the man, who was almost striking distance away from the hedgehog.

Scenes of his friends filled the hedgehog's head, causing more tears to appear out of his eyes and onto the ground. He missed them dearly and wished he could say goodbye to them. The scenes of his friends vanished and were replaced with images of their injuries, other brutal fights and some heartbreaking deaths. As the hedgehog outstretched his hand to pull himself even further, a massive amount of pressure was suddenly applied onto his legs. The man had firmly set one leg onto both of the creature's legs. The Mobian cried out in agony as even more pressure was added to his legs and he could feel that they were about to snap.

"Jack be nimble, Jack be quick, Jack jump over the candle stick," The man recited as he added a little bit more pressure, making the hedgehog cry. "Jack jump high, Jack jump low, I'm sorry Jack, but your legs have to go." finished the man, who added his own little sick ending to the nursery rhyme.

_I thought he was crazy at first, but now he's gone over the edge._

CRACK!

A single loud scream echoed through streets of the destroyed city. The very sound made everyone's hopes sink downward, knowing that they're only hope was now dead.

_Monsters are created, not born and this is the monster's story from its creation up to its redemption. _

* * *

**I'm going through some chapters revising them.**


	2. His Greatest Invention

**Disclaimer: Sonic and co. © by Sega**

Chapter One

His Greatest Invention

2 Months and 3 Days before Black Egg Armageddon

* * *

_He always had this power hidden deep within his vaults, knowing that using it would mean the end of the world and for himself. He just needed someone to push him into using it._

* * *

A tired and fatigued man in his mid fifties stumbled into a dark room before falling onto his knees. The door behind him sliding to a close so the man could be left alone in his so called office. The man was panting hard, as if he had just escaped death and sweat was cascading off of his face and onto the cold hard steel underneath him. This was yet another defeat for the man at the hands of his enemy, a particular blue hedgehog with a cocky smile.

Every time he would fail. Every time he thought he had the solution, the science of it all would go up in smoke once that hedgehog stood above his destroyed invention. With power fueled by his own anger, the man pounded his fist against the ground. Loud thuds could be heard from outside of the lavish office, but no one could hear it because no one was there. Only three thuds were heard, before a loud cry of anger and frustration erupted into the air.

Red blotches started to appear near the knuckle section of the doctors white gloves, as the new wounds on his knuckles bled out. Hot tears poured out of the man's eyes from the pain and the tears mixed with the sweat and blood. He didn't want to be weak anymore. He wanted to win badly and he wished that he had the power to wipe the cocky grin off of his nemesis's face. No matter how much planning and effort he put into it though, his dream would never come true and for the first time, the man considered himself a failure.

* * *

Smoke and fire lifted up into the sky from a destroyed forest covered with the shut-down and mangled bodies of robots. In the middle of the carnage, sat a blue hedgehog with his trademark grin and eyes closed as he relaxed to another normal day. Moments before, the hedgehog's foe launched another hopeless attack on him and failed like every other day. It was starting to get old and the hedgehog wondered when the fat man would finally retire. But after working so hard, for so long the hedgehog knew that there would be no end to the meaningless invasions until the man had succumbed to old age.

Sonic the hedgehog, Mobius's greatest and fastest hero was yet again the victor against his fat nemesis. The hero was now happily sitting amongst the deactivated bodies of robots as if he was in the middle of a placid park and he was ready to take a relaxing nap. Before the hedgehog could dose off into his dreamland, a young male voice called out to him and the cobalt hero cracked his eyes open to find a familiar friend advancing towards him.

"Sonic! Is that you!?" asked the far off voice.

In the distance, a golden yellow fox ran toward him. Only two steps into his run, the fox began to fly over to Sonic, using his two tails as a propeller naturally. Sonic recognized the fox as none other then his best friend, Tails. Even though the fox was young, he was still able to catch up to his greatest hero and friend using those same two tails of his and probably without those two trademarks, there would have to be another nickname for the boy. A smile creased onto the blue hero's face as his friend approached him and once he did, Tails didn't look surprised to see the destroyed robots.

"Eggman again?" asked Tails curiously as he look around at the destruction. Sonic grinned at the question, even his best friend knew of Eggman's annoying persistence.

"Yeah, another failed attempt at an attack." said Sonic plainly as he got on his feet, a calm look on his face. "You can go ahead and scavenge for stuff if you want." He said, thinking that his friend might need some spare parts for a weapon or some new equipment for the Tornado.

Tails shrugged in a 'whatever' sort of way. "Nah, these are just some heaps of useless, outdated junk. I could probably build blender with all of this junk." boasted Tails, as he kicked the immobile robot body. The blue hedgehog chuckled at the statement.

"Yeah, I guess ol' Egghead is starting to get his parts from the junkyard." stated Sonic, before he and Tails walked off toward Station Square.

* * *

"Damn that cursed hedgehog!" cried Eggman from within his laboratory. More failures were starting to pile up within his head from the beginning of his career as a criminal to present day. Every idea, plan or scheme crushed by Sonic and his allies.

"You're weak, that's why!" yelled a voice from within the darkness of Eggman's office. The plump man jumped to his feet and he started to look around frantically trying to locate the speaker. His office was dark from the lack of power and the only useful amount of light was coming from the small reading lamp on the doctor's desk.

"Who's there?" asked Eggman in a frightened tone. Hand to hand combat wasn't really his specialty and having to go through close encounters like this without the aid of his robots made him deathly afraid.

The voice laughed manically. "Even now you're weak, not even strong enough to defend yourself." mocked the voice menacingly as Eggman continued to look around. "You can't fight!" yelled the voice before Eggman felt something punching him across the face, causing him to fall down onto the cold ground.

Eggman was scared for once in his life because every day he lived with the aid of his robots. Every day his machines would do everything from making meals, protecting him, and planning. Whoever his opponent was, he chose the right time to strike. "What do you want?" whimpered the doctor, not willing to die, but after seeing his forces get crushed by Sonic yet again, he was reconsidering what he wanted.

Another maniacal laugh erupted from the mysterious voice, giving Eggman the feeling that the person would kill him either way. "I want to make you stronger." said the voice slyly, the answer shocking Eggman entirely.

"Wh- wh- wh- what?" stuttered the nervous Eggman, trying to figure out of the person was lying.

"Power! Do you hear me!? Power!" yelled the voice, the sudden increase in volume startling the doctor. "I just have one question. What are you willing to do to finally beat Sonic the hedgehog?" asked the voice.

Power from a stranger, enough power to destroy his enemy, some things are just too good to be true. "You lie, no one has enough power to beat him." spat Eggman, tired of impossible dreams that would never come true. He would rather die then follow some hopeless dream. A kick then slammed into Eggman's abdomen, the kick having so much power that Eggman slid across the ground and smashed into a wall. Eggman coughed up blood from the violent attack. "Stop hiding in the darkness! Show yourself!" yelled Eggman, tired of the man's shadow-walker games.

"Answer the question! Do you want the power!?" asked the voice again in a more infuriated tone, before kicking Eggman again.

More tears started to pour out of Eggman's eyes, not just from the pain he was experiencing but from the mental stress he was going through. He knew that the man was lying about the power, he was just taunting him with it. Everyone would have real power, while Eggman would just survive off of mechanical power. More kicks were unleashed on Eggman's pudgy body, each kick feeling like it was breaking a rib.

Eggman mustered as much courage he could and finally blurted out what had to be said. "YOU'RE LYING!" yelled Eggman finally. The kicking stopped, surprising Eggman. Before he could say anything else, the person picked Eggman up by the scruff of his jacket.

"Fine, then you die." spat the man coldly before punching Eggman square in the face.

There was no mercy shown, as the man continued to punch the helpless Eggman. The doctor felt ashamed, he couldn't even see his assailants face and he was still going die. The doctor was going to blackout now, the sudden realization that he was going to truly die finally settling into his head. If it was death he would accept it. After so long, death didn't seem as scary as it did before. Now he was willing to stand there, waiting through the pain before his heart would stop. But before he could do that, he revisited his past

* * *

**One Year Earlier**

"_Doctor, the serum is complete." said a robot who stood next to a proud Eggman._

_The robot was humanoid, standing on two legs that had wheels instead of feet and had some chubby attributes that matched the doctors. Days before, the doctor came up with a so called 'perfect plan.' Now it was finished and he had to see the final product. It was something new for the doctor that actually reflected on his title as 'doctor.' Instead of playing with robots, for once Eggman would play with genes and DNA._

_The doctor smiled and turned around to face the robot. "Good, bring it to me." demanded Eggman calmly, knowing that robots would always obey, since asking politely would have no use to robots built to do everything he'd say. _

_Minutes later, the humanoid robot brought the doctor a tray. On top of the tray was a syringe filed with a black liquid. "I do have some bad new doctor." said the robot with its mechanical voice box. _

_The doctor raised an eyebrow at the statement. "What is it?" he asked. _

"_Ninety percent of the test subjects did have negative effects from the solution. Such as dementia, bloodlust, suicidal attempts, massive amounts of hysteria, delusions and in some cases even death." said the robot promptly. "But the ten percent that did make it, have shown a great increase in strength and agility." added the bot_

_The news was less then enlightening for the doctor and he reconsidered his options. Power was something he direly needed and at that time he wasn't willing to take any chances if the science behind it was flawed. He sighed sadly before finally making up his mind._

"_Lock this up, I'll think it over."_

_

* * *

_

The memory shot into Eggman's head and he knew exactly where the serum was. The serum might be risky even life threatening, but Eggman would rather go out in a bang then get killed like some nameless nobody. He felt his assailant's hand retract from his face in preparation for another attack, but before he could unleash again on Eggman's face, the doctor broke away from him and scrambled for the light switch. With the flip of a switch the small room was illuminated with white light that came from the fluorescent light bulbs built into the ceiling. At that moment, Eggman finally got a glimpse at his foe.

Clad in a long black coat, the man was at least Eggman's size. The long coat prevented him from seeing anything else, but he did see his face. The man had similar facial features compared to Eggman, he had a long black mustache fashioned in the same way, a somewhat long nose, and even a pair of round glasses, except the man's were green. A psychotic smile appeared on the man's face as he stared at Eggman before the doctor ran out of the room.

Eggman ran out of the door and into the hallway. Sweat dropped off of the doctor's face as he ran since he wasn't really in good shape, but he still pressed on. Behind him, he could hear the slow calm footsteps of his assailant. With the storage room in sight, Eggman put all of his effort into running and in a matter of seconds he was in front of the room. He burst into the room and looked around, everywhere he could see shelves filled with metallic boxes.

"Box number 698." said Eggman to himself as he began to run in the number's direction.

He ran into the aisle looked around. The footsteps could still be heard as Eggman rapidly pulled out boxes with the wrong number on it. His heart was racing now as he threw the useless boxes filled with broken down machine parts to the ground.

"You can still reconsider Ivo." said the man as he was seen at the end of the isle.

Seeing him made Eggman even more nervous as he still pulled out the boxes. Almost miraculously, he finally found the metal crate he was looking for. He grabbed the box and tore the lid off, throwing it aside. Within the box, he could see the same syringe with its same black liquid. Eggman smiled at the sight and turned his head to find that his assailant still stood where he was before. The doctor then withdrew the syringe from the box so his assailant could see.

The assailant had a look of shock on his face as he looked at the syringe. "What is that?" He asked. Eggman could sense a hint of fear trembling within his assailant's voice and thought this would be one good way to test his experiment.

"An experiment deemed too powerful even for my standards," said Eggman as he rolled up his sleeve a smile on his face. "I call it," The doctor said before injecting the syringe into his flesh. "Serum 92 Codename: Darkness." He slowly pressed on the plunger of the syringe, letting the fluid enter his blood stream.

Once the syringe was empty, Eggman violently threw it to the side. Pain was crawling all throughout his body, his head felt as though someone was pounding nails into it and his body felt as if he were on fire. Flooded with pain, Eggman fell to his knees, then onto his stomach, his body convulsing and jerking around as if he was having some sort of seizure. As he experienced all of these things, he was still conscious and he could see his assailant slowly walk over to his convulsing body.

"Now you've answered my question." said the man as he knelt down to look into Eggman's panicking eyes. A smile was on the man's face, making Eggman wonder if he was going to end his meaningless life. "Call me if you need my help, Ivo." said the man as he began to walk away. Eggman watched as his assailant left him on the floor, consciousness starting to slip away. "You'll thank me later." Was the last thing Eggman heard before finally falling unconscious. A faint heartbeat was coming from the doctor and moments later, there was no heartbeat coming from the doctor at all.

* * *

"Have you ever wondered how Eggman feels when we beat him?" asked Tails out of nowhere.

The two were still walking toward Station Square, as they walked, Tails started asking some questions. Sonic found this particular question funny, since he really had no idea what Eggman felt. He had taken down the doctor so many times that he never really had the time to think about it. Tails was now making Sonic think from two perspectives, the hero's side and the villains. Heroes always feel good when they win and of course when the villains lose they feel saddened and ashamed. But what about Eggman? Surly after being beaten so many times by so many different people, something must still motivate the man to keep on trying.

"I don't know actually. You should ask him next time." joked Sonic as he playfully pushed the fox. Station Square was in sight now and it the sun was setting, for the heroes it was just another day of kicking evil butt and relaxing under the beautiful blue sky.

* * *

A low groan sounded throughout the laboratory halls. Someone within the storage room was awakening.

"Wha- what happened?" asked Eggman as he got up, his head a mixing pot of migraines.

The doctor got to his feet and almost instantly the headache was gone. In fact, Eggman felt refreshed, as if he had taken a long and needed sleep. Adrenaline pumped through Eggman's veins and he could feel the power within him flowing freely. He raised his hand up to inspect it and found that it look normal. Once he curled his hand into a fist however, the glove tore apart from Eggman's new muscles. A devious smile made its way on Eggman's face and he was enjoying the sudden increase in power.

Eggman then looked around and stretched his legs before beginning to perform back flips. He ended with a spectacular twirl onto his feet at the end of the storage room's aisles. The doctor then performed a sweeping kick, knocking over one of the steel shelves over easily, making all of the contents on the shelves fall off as the shelf itself began to fall. Before the shelf could hit the ground it jerked suddenly and seemed to stay frozen in mid-fall. Eggman was holding the two ton steel shelf up with one hand with ease. He then grabbed the shelf with one hand and threw it straight up into the air. Everything was getting easier for Eggman now and his physical strength and agility have increased.

Before the shelf could slam into the ground, Eggman punched it and sent it flying toward the opposite wall. A loud crash sounded throughout the lab and smoke filled up the storage room. Along with the smoke came a laugh, not the trademark 'hohohohoho!' that normal Eggman used to use, it was more of a manlier and scarier one, almost psychotic. Eggman walked out of the Storage Room. Robots started to clamor around him asking if he needed medical attention and so on. The doctor replied by smashing each and every robot into the wall, following up with his new laugh.

"My greatest invention ever." said the new Eggman evilly as he walked out of the room.


	3. Fox Hunting

**Disclaimer: Sonic and co. ©Sega**

Chapter Two

Fox Hunting

2 Months and 2 Days before Black Egg Armageddon

* * *

_He went too far when he took away my best friend. Those terrifying moments will always remain in my head._

_

* * *

  
_

Night crept over the Mystic Ruins and over Tails' workshop. Even though it was almost night time, the young fox was still working away, fixing the Tornado. Tails was the sort of person that never liked to have nothing to do, so he always filled his day with some activities like fixing a machine or having some fun with Sonic. Tails tightened another bolt on the underside of the Tornado's hull, before sliding out from under it. Small beads of sweat were crawling down Tails' face. Building, rebuilding and upgrading was tiring task, but since he's done it more then a hundred times, he was used to it. The young fox got to his feet and wiped the small beads of sweat off, before looking at the clock that clearly read eleven-forty seven PM.

"Woo, it's getting late." sighed Tails tiredly, before walking toward another door that slid open at his presence.

He walked into the dark room, the lights switching on automatically. Inside of the room lay Tails' bedroom. , against one wall was his large bed with a dark yellow sheets that resembled a burnt gold, on the far wall stood a tall bookcase filled with books of course, directly across from Tails bed was a widescreen TV sitting on a shelf for easy viewing from the fox's bed. Next to the fox's bed stood a reading lamp, surrounded by pictures of his friends delicately placed within metal frames. Each picture showed happy times, when Sonic won against Eggman after a battle, a picnic and much more. The fox strode off into his bathroom to get ready for a nights rest, but little did he know, someone was watching over his building.

* * *

A slow but peaceful whistle came into the air, as a large, plump man strode through the dark forest. The man still wore a red jacket, but it seemed to be tight around the muscles that it hid under it. Gloves no longer restricted the size of man's hands and now you could see the large tendons and veins being pumped with blood. A psychotic smile stretched across the man's face.

"_Time to go fox hunting." _thought the man before disappearing.

* * *

The young kitsune crept into bed, a book clasped in his hand. With a flick of a switch, the main lights turned off and the small reading lamp turned on, illuminating the pages within the book. Tails read the book happily, finding good literature a great replacement for mind numbing TV. His book told a fairy tale of heroism in a world filled with poverty and cruelty, ruled by an evil warlord. Even the logical and intelligent Tails had to have a good fictional story from time to time. A loud crash could be heard coming from the outside of the workshop, followed by a low rumble, before the lights went out. A slight feeling of fear filled the fox for a brief moment, but having faced bad situations before, he was prepared.

"Auxiliary power on." said a robotic voice, as all of the lights turned on. Having upgraded and tinkered with his technology, Tails always had some sort of backup generator.

He crawled out of bed and walked toward the widescreen TV that stood in front of him.

"Show the security camera footage on the TV." demanded Tails, and obediently the robots listened.

A flicker of light erupted onto the screen before displaying four different camera angles of the outside of his house. Everything seemed normal outside of his house, nothing was destroyed and everything seemed peaceful. Another loud crash sounded throughout Tails' workshop, almost causing the fox to fall over from the monstrous aftershock.

"Warning, intruder at main entrance. Threat level: code red." said the same robotic voice as the screens switched over to the camera facing the front door to Tails' workshop.

Smoke and dust rose into the air, making the rough outline of the intruder visible. He could see that the intruder had a broad body, as if he was starting to lose weight, somewhat large arms and thin legs. The view then switched over to infrared vision allowing Tails to see that the intruder was clearly organic and not one of Eggman's robots. Some of these few details reminded Tails of Eggman, but he knew it couldn't be him since Eggman was never buff nor could he break down a titanium enforced wall door with his bare hands.

"Turn on the entire array of defense turrets I'll contact Sonic." said Tails, knowing that his robots would obey. He walked over to the phone next to his bed and picked it up.

"The intruder is getting into the power ro-" Before the robot could finish its sentence everything went black again and the phone went dead. Moonlight pierced in through the windows illuminating the room to a small extent, but it still held its creepy vibe. The sudden feeling that nothing could protect swept over Tails like a crashing wave. He couldn't call for help and seeing that his enemy was strong, he couldn't stand a chance.

"Miles Prower, where could you be hiding?" Asked a familiar voice that echoed throughout the steel walls of the workshop. After realizing who the voice belonged to, Tails' mouth dropped open in disbelief.

"No way." whispered Tails to himself as he remembered that a moment before he identified the intruder to living and not a robot. Questions filled Tails' head, but above it all was fear. He had no idea why though, he had faced Eggman on so many occasions before, but why did this moment affect him the most?

Tails ran out of his room and went straight toward his armory. Most of his weapons were designed for most of his friends, like more durable shoes for Sonic or Shadow, titanium gloves for Knuckles and much more. But during most of his time, Tails started to work on a weapon that he could use. His heart rate increased exponentially as he ran, not because of the running, but because of his intruder. He tried to think of other possibilities of who it could be, but the suggestion of Eggman still scratched at the back of his head. Tails shook his head, making the though go away and focused on the matter at hand, the armory door just a couple meters in front of him.

"I wonder how soup would taste with fox meat in it." wondered the intruder out loud as loud footsteps at a walking pace could be heard from afar, making Tails' heartbeat sky rocket.

Once he got to the armory door, he frantically punched in the key code and ran inside. More footsteps could be heard from outside the room, but Tails felt a little more confident as he grabbed his new weapon.

"Oh where, oh where, can the little fox be? Oh where, oh where, can he be?" asked the intruder. A look of curiosity came over the intruder as he came up to the armory door, the door slightly ajar. "Could the little fox be in here?" asked the intruder as if he was a child.

Before the intruder could get any closer to opening the door, he was rammed by it, as something blasted it off of its hinges. The intruder flew backwards, regained his balance in midair and landed in a crouching position, before looking at the person responsible for the blast. On top of the destroyed and dented door, stood Tails with two huge metal gauntlets that fizzled and cracked with electricity. The gauntlets were huge and looked as if they belonged to some sort of robotic sasquatch; a large yellow crystal gleamed and shimmered with energy on the gauntlet's back hand side and Tails also wore what looked like reading glasses with a rectangular lens.

"Someone invented themselves a new toy." said the intruder in sly tone as he eyed the gauntlets.

Tails didn't reply, he just scanned the intruder with his techno glasses. After he did that, he gasped loudly in surprise.

"Y- y- y- y- you're," Tails stuttered as he took small steps backwards. Moments ago he was ready for battle, but seeing the truth made his spine tingle.

"Doctor. Eggman," finished the intruder, before the lights above his head flickered on for a moment, allowing Tails to see the psychotic smile that adorned the human's face." Surprised to see me?" ssked the doctor as Tails continued to back up in fear.

A confused and scared look made its way onto Tails' face as the turn of events were quite shocking for him.

"_How is this possible?" _wondered Tails in a quaking tone. _"This is the real Eggman, but how is he so strong?" _asked the fox to himself. _"There is no sign of any robotic muscles and there is no drug in the world that would give him that much strength in a day." _

More questions filled the young fox's head, but one thing remained, he had to fight and win no matter what. With the push of his legs and the extra push of his rotating tails, Tails sent himself charging toward the new Eggman with a hand behind his back ready for a punch.

"Let's play." whispered Eggman, before ducking under Tails' punch.

Eggman could see the astonished look on Tails' face at Eggman's newfound speed and power. A split second after, Eggman kicked his legs in a wide sweep, making Tails fall to the side. A look of shock swept across Tails' face before hitting the ground and Eggman cherished every moment of it. Once the fox's small goldish yellow head hit the steel floor, Eggman kicked his face and sent him sliding backwards on the floor. The sounds of ribs cracking were heard coming from Tails' chest when he was kicked and now the fox coughed and spurted blood from his mouth. Pain was starting to splash and wave throughout Tails' torso but he refused to cry in front of the enemy. Tails forced himself onto his feet and he could see that Eggman still stood where he was before, the same smile on his face gleamed through the darkness.

"What have you done to yourself?" asked Tails weakly, his vision starting to blur, but his determination kept on telling him to stay and fight.

Eggman jerked his head back and let a loud, but hearty laugh erupt from within him. He seemed as though the question was a small and significant one. He immediately went back to a serious and more composed stance, but the smile stayed the same.

"I finally found the guts to fight for myself." he said before charging Tails.

For a person whose body was on the larger side, he was incredibly fast. He came up behind Tails and grabbed his head.

"I decided not to hide behind pathetic machines." whispered Eggman into Tails' ear, before taking the fox's head and smashing it against the steel wall of the hallway. He then took the bleeding fox's head and continued to tell him more. "I found the strength to support my own plans and not the strength of faulty robots." whispered Eggman before throwing Tails down the hallway.

The small fox bounced and tumbled down the hall as if he were a ragdoll and finally came to a stop.

Hot tears of pain came running down Tails' face, along with the blood the leaked out of the cuts under his eye. His broken ribs were starting to get numb, but he fought through the pain and got up. He eyed Eggman viciously even though he was bleeding and he heard a slight chuckle come out of the man. He was taunting the weak fox and Tails could tell. With all his might, Tails charged Eggman while letting out of his anger out in one big yell.

* * *

A blue blur of motion ran through the dark Station Square. It's late in the city, but that didn't stop anything. Lights glowed for shop owners, candles illuminated the tables of expensive restaurants, cars drove on the streets and the moon was high in the sky. Sonic was worried that night, for a call was received from his friend Tails, but once he answered the phone, the line went dead. At first he thought it was Tails accidentally calling the wrong number, but something in the back of his head told him that something was wrong. He was heading over to Tails' workshop now with his cell phone clenched in his hand just in case and he hoped everything was alright.

The phone started to vibrate within the palm of Sonic's hand, making the hero flip it on without even looking at the caller ID. "Tails?" Asked Sonic directly, but to his surprise it wasn't Tails' voce that replied.

"No Sonic, it's Amy, You've got to get over to Tails' workshop quick! It's on fire!" Exclaimed a fearful Amy on the other line. Her statement almost made Sonic drop his cell phone while running, but also made him speed up. Sonic ended the call and ran as fast as he could to Tails' workshop.

At his top speed, it took Sonic at least two minutes to get to Tails' workshop, only to find the whole place engulfed in flames. Firefighters tried to douse the flames with water but looked like it was doing nothing at all to affect the flames. Sonic's mouth dropped open in horror at the sight. The first thing Sonic had to do was go get Tails out of there. He was in a starting position and ready to run before someone tackled him to the ground.

"Are you crazy?" asked a female voice.

Sonic found that Amy had tackled him to the ground. He could care less, for his best friend could be burning alive in his own workshop. Sonic pushed Amy off of him, not even answering Amy at all.

"I have to save Tails." said Sonic nervously as he prepared to charge the flaming workshop.

Seconds before he could even take one step, the roof of the workshop collapsed, making escape impossible. The blue hedgehog knew that there was no way of saving his friend now and fell to his knees. Tears started to pour out of the hedgehog's eyes and he started to cry. Amy knelt down next to Sonic and the pink hedgehog gave him a hug. Even Amy had tears flowing from her eyes as well and the two hoped that Tails escaped somehow.

* * *

**Five Hours Later**

Sonic paced around within Amy's house, waiting for a call from the police investigators whether Tails had made it out or not. Fatigue and exhaustion were starting to catch up on the hedgehog since had not slept after the incident had occurred. Talking could be heard from the other room, as Amy informed all of their friends about what had happened. No matter who they told, no could be as shocked or as afraid as Sonic. A knocking was heard coming from the front door of Amy's house. Sonic was the first one to answer the door and behind it stood two human police officers.

"So is he alive?" asked Sonic worriedly. Formalities right now were the least of his problems so skipping them was wise.

Amy hung up the phone and walked over to the door. She stood next to Sonic with an equally as nervous expression on her. Not only was she afraid that Tails might be dead, but she was afraid of how Sonic would take it if he was. One of the officers exhaled a deep and worried sigh before replying.

"We looked through the wreckage and found no trace of your friend." said the officer calmly.

The news enlightened both Sonic and Amy, since now there was a slight chance that Tails escaped. The two officers looked at each other, giving the 'do you want to tell them?' look. One of the officers conceded defeat and finally came out with the bad news.

"We did find this however." said the other officer as he withdrew a piece of metal from his pocket.

The piece of metal was square and was as big as a sticky note. Some of the sides were charred from the fire, but the backside had a recognizable symbol on the back. Both Sonic and Amy gasped at the sight of it. The symbol was a round head with a mustache coming out from the sides of it and with round circles for eyes.

"Eggman." growled Sonic angrily.

* * *

**I'm against canon characters dying, but it really adds to the suspense.**


	4. A Fate Worst Then Death

**Disclaimer: Sonic and co. © Sega**

**Here I go, finally adding some surprise twists to my story.  
**

Chapter Three

A Fate Worst Then Death

1 Month and 28 Days before Black Egg Armageddon

_

* * *

Three days went by after Tails went missing and every day I prayed he was alright. But in reality he wasn't. He was suffering at the hands of the monster that would end the world.  
_

* * *

Pain started to drill away at a young fox's head as he finally awoke. It felt as if a huge amount of needles were drilling into his skull, but the fox passed it off as a concussion to his head. His abdomen felt as though it was on fire and he looked down to find that large splotches of hardened blood encrusted his fur, telling Tails that he had been out cold for a while. He tried to reach down, but found that both of his hands were bolted facing each of his sides and his legs were together, forming his body into a Y. Knowing that he couldn't move at all, made Tails nervous as he struggled to get free of the iron bearings that hung him against the steel wall. As he was struggling, he found that something was wrong, he felt as though more than his arms and legs were being restricted. Tails looked behind him, a shocked and afraid look on his face. Both of his tails were bound to some sort of machine.

"Good morning, my little friend." cackled a familiar voice. In front of the helpless fox was a large figure and to Tails, it looked as though the monster had gotten bigger.

"E- e- Eggman?" stuttered the disbelieved Tails.

The changed doctor strode out of the shadows finally letting Tails get a good look at him.

"The one and only." said the doctor with a smile, his glasses shining from the light that beamed down on Tails.

The changes to the doctor were so drastic that it felt as if Tails was meeting another man and not the putrid old fat man he used to know.

Large, ham-like muscles filled his arms, tearing through the doctor's red sleeves. His legs grew to some degree that the pants looked as if they were about to rip and his upper body bulged out with new muscles. If Tails didn't know Eggman, he would've thought he was staring at a famous body builder. An eerie presence resonated from the doctor, sending a chill down Tails' spine, as if he was meeting a furious beast.

"What happened to you?" asked Tails, trying to make sense of the situation.

A chuckle was the only reply Tails got from Eggman, as the human walked toward the immobile fox. Seeing the doctor come closer, Tails tried to squirm free once again, thinking that Eggman would hurt him. Instead, the doctor grabbed the bottom of Tails' chin and stared deep into the fox's eyes. The fox couldn't see beyond the man's round glasses, but he could feel the presence of anger emanating from them.

"I finally found the will to fight for myself." said the doctor, before punching Tails' in the already fractured ribs.

Tails cried out in pain as the knuckles buried into his sore abdomen. As he cried, Eggman laughed and laughed, as if he had heard a hilarious joke. The doctor then withdrew his fist from Tails' stomach, fresh blood now on his knuckles. Another laugh escaped the doctor's lips before rapidly punching Tails. His fist flew back in forth in a blur of motion, his speed was not fast enough to impress Sonic, but fast enough to match the rotation speed of an electric fan put on its highest level.

After two minutes of rapid punching, the doctor ended his little rampage, leaving the fox crying and gasping for breath. Some of the fox's ribs were cracked or broken into pieces, intensifying the pain he felt.

Finally regaining his breath, Tails burst out with a question. "What do you want from me!?" asked Tails painfully, followed by a sob.

Muscles were still fatigued from his last battle, his abdomen aflame with pain that stung every nerve, and his head felt as though someone was bashing it with a hammer. This was not one of Tails' best days ever. In fact, a small voice in his head pleaded for death, but with his remaining willpower he blocked it out the best he could. Another voice wanted to know why Eggman was torturing him. The doctor was yet to present some grand plan for world domination, making Tails wonder what his goal was.

Eggman's face was suddenly in front of Tails' , the same psychotic smile adorning his face, giving Tails the horrible thought that Eggman was enjoying the pain _he _was causing. Tails had always thought of Eggman as the weak genius, who hid behind his machines when the trouble was starting to brew. Eggman would never be the one causing the pain. He would always be within some robotic suit or suspended high in the sky in his Egg Carrier. Now however, he could sense the sort of insanity building up inside of Eggman, as if he wasn't himself at all.

"You want to know what I want?" asked the doctor playfully.

"Yes! What do you want from me?" asked Tails loudly, more tears streaming from his face as the pain intensified.

The smile on Eggman's face grew bigger, making Tails' mouth open in horror, as if knowing what he was going to say.

"I want to hear you scream!" yelled Eggman happily before kicking Tails in the chest.

CRACK!

Tails let out a single loud scream of pain. No doubt that all of his ribs were broken now. That didn't please the doctor enough though, his screams wouldn't cure the man's sudden increase in bloodlust.

Eggman got close to Tails, a fake worried look on his face. "Oh deary me! Did that hurt?" asked the doctor, imitating a little girl.

Instead of an answer, Tails let out a loud sob. The fox knew that he was bleeding internally and he also knew that Eggman wasn't going to stop.

"Good to hear!" said Eggman joyously, breaking out of the little girl role and jumping right back into his new psychotic self. He walked behind Tails, to an area where the fox couldn't see. Chains rustling around, made Tails stop his crying suddenly, he could feel his two tails being tugged behind him. Another sinister laugh filled the air for a moment. "Now I wonder what nickname they would give you if I ripped off both of your tails."

Tails tried to look behind him frantically. He hoped that Eggman wasn't being serious. Another tug was felt and his two tails straightened up, the chains binding them together were now being yanked backwards. "No don't!" Yelled Tails fearfully.

If things didn't go his way, Tails would be plain old Miles Prower.

Behind the fox, Eggman was busy turning a crank that was tied to the two tails. He wouldn't leave a job this fun to faulty machines. He would rip the fox's tails off himself and to make it even more twisted, he would laugh and smile at the same time.

Another powerful tug made Tail yelp out, his arms now frantically moving about, trying to get free. Sweat mixed with tears as Tails tried to think through the pain. His plans were confusing and messy as the pain made thinking harder at each tug. Even if he felt no pain, there would be no plan to get out of his situation unscathed. Luckily, Tails knew how durable his own tails were. If he remembered correctly, they could stretch to a length of one foot and three inches. That was the farthest he could go, but it was still unsure of what the real breaking point was.

"Come on Miles, you've got to admit that even you're kind of curious!" said Eggman from the back, as another tug stretched out Tails' tails at a painful length.

In an odd, but twisted sort of way, Tails was curious. Would his nickname stay Tail after the cruel dismemberment, or would someone else just slap on another name, making a permanent nametag? Tails threw the questions away. What cruel mind games was Eggman coming up with? Why didn't he just kill him at his workshop? None of these things made any sense. If he wanted to hurt Sonic he would have just killed Tails. That didn't matter right now, his top priority was surviving.

"This one's gonna hurt." Said Eggman slyly as he moved his arms, giving the crank a huge 360 degree turn.

Tails yelled out once more, in his mind he could tell that even the slightest pull would rip off his furry propellers. No plan could be made now, no hero would come, no Sonic would burst through the walls with his trademark smile. A look of realization then hit Tails. That was it, he had finally found the reason why Eggman was doing this to him.

"_Killing me would hurt Sonic, but making him watch me suffer would hurt him even more." _thought Tails.

It was all a mind game, a single twisted mind game to see Sonic have some mental breakdown over his suffering. This twisted experiment would work, even Tails knew that. After spending so much time with Sonic, he knew what the hedgehog would do if and when he was injured. But one thing still remained in Tails' bruised head. He still wanted to know what Eggman had really done to himself. A weak fat man, can't become some insane killer in a couple of days. No drug would induce this and no mental trauma would create a monster like this is that short amount of time. Tails made sure that he would remember these questions for a later time, if there was a later time.

"One more time." said Eggman from behind Tails, making the fox's eyes widen in horror.

"NOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!"

RIIIIIIIIIIP!!!!!

A single loud gut wrenching scream filled the air. The scream reached such a level that the birds nesting in the surrounding area all started to fly away. After the scream ended, a low psychotic laugh followed after.

"That's the scream I'm looking for."

**

* * *

For all of those who thought tails was dead, I bet you're wishing he was. For those of you who thought he was alive, I bet you wish he was dead anyway. No please don't consider it cruel, try to consider it creative. **


	5. Boxes

**Disclaimer: Sonic and co. © Sega**

Chapter Four

Boxes

1 Month and 26 Days before Black Egg Armageddon

* * *

_When Tails came back, I finally got a glimpse of what the new Eggman was capable of. The level of brutality and torture that Tails went through almost made me throw up._

* * *

Every day after Tails went missing; the police and almost all of Sonic's friends went searching for him. Seven days later though, the police ended the search and announced that he was dead. Sonic wouldn't believe it and he always went out into Mystic Ruins to find Tails. Nothing worked and now the blue hero would have to admit that his one best friends was dead.

DING DONG! DING DONG!

Bloodshot eyes fluttered open. His doorbell ringing in a nonstop pattern awakening Sonic. The tired blue hedgehog got out of bed, he was the fastest thing in the world but the only thing he couldn't catch was some time to sleep. Sonic drearily walked over to the front door, yawning and stretching, for he had been up for days looking for Tails.

"Sonic! Come on, open the door!" yelled a feminine from beyond the door.

Sonic instantly recognized the voice. After seeing Tails' workshop burn to the ground, Amy tried to help Sonic by spending more time with him. The blue hero couldn't tell if she was doing it because she really wanted to help, or if she just wanted to get closer to him. But deep inside, Sonic could tell that Amy was trying to comfort him. He unlocked the front door and let Amy in. She looked absolutely beautiful that morning and Sonic was trying to figure out if he was getting delusional.

Amy's close-lying fur seemed to shine in the small sunlight that entered the house and her quills seemed smooth and just as shiny and her bright green eyes twinkled in the light. Her red halter-top dress seemed longer, but it was because everyone was starting to grow up. Seeing Amy in this way did make Sonic feel somewhat in love, maybe it was because he needed something to take his mind off of Tails, or maybe it was because he finally found a real attraction to Amy. Either way, Sonic seemed swayed by her appearance, but tried to keep his feelings and actions under control.

"You look beautiful today." commented Sonic, before walking up close to Amy. The words simply floated out of Sonic's mouth without him even knowing it.

Hearing Sonic finally say that to her made Amy blush. Her heart began to soar, as she began to day dream on things that she would do together with Sonic. After a couple of romantic scenes, Amy snapped back to reality before she would look like an idiot in front of Sonic.

"I, uh, I heard that the police ended the search, I'm so sorry." said Amy sincerely, with a saddened look.

Sonic snapped out of his adoring state at the statement, which brought back his sadness. "Yeah, but I'm still looking for him." said Sonic as his head went limp and he looked at the floor as if losing all hope.

Amy put a hand on Sonic's shoulder, a worried look on her face. "We're all still looking for him, no matter what the police say." said Amy, trying to lift Sonic's hopes.

Seeing her hero act so hopeless made Amy feel bad. She didn't what to say to him. Saying that everything would be okay would be giving out false hope, but at times like this, false hope is still hope.

"You think he's okay out there all by himself?" asked Sonic as tears starting to well up inside of him.

Amy looked surprised at the question, but it dimmed back down to her more calm features as she could sense a cry about to erupt out of Sonic. She embraced Sonic in a hug. "He's a smart kid, of course he'll be okay." she whispered, before Sonic started to cry once again.

Sonic wrapped his arms around Amy's petite body, returning the hug. His tears sweeping down his face and onto the floor. This would probably be the only comfort he would get from a friend. He was lucky that Amy was there, if she wasn't, he'd probably crawl into some fetal position and cry himself to sleep. Her ability to comfort the saddened was the medicine that Sonic needed, and he was lucky to have a friend as sincere as Amy. After a minute of hugging and crying, Sonic released Amy and wiped the tears from his eyes, which finally stopped flowing.

"Thanks Amy, I really needed that." said Sonic with a smile. Finally being able to let his emotions out really felt good and it was all thanks to Amy.

Amy gave out a slight giggle. "Anytime." she said smiling.

Sonic brought Amy into the living room area, where the TV was at. He was starting to get used to not having to run away from her. After that hug, he felt more confident that Tails was alive. The two watched some TV while chatting about some other things for about two hours. A couple of jokes were tossed around, making both of them feel like they were actually starting to know each other, instead of knowing each other as the reluctant damsel in distress and the cocky hero who always saves the day.

To the unknowing eye, both of them looked like the perfect couple, just talking about miscellaneous topics that would spur into a full blown conversation. Their feelings for each other have also changed drastically during their talks, Amy was starting to feel that Sonic was also the emotional type of person other then the speedy hero and Sonic feeling like Amy was the outgoing type, other then the repetitive stalker who would always chase him through town.

DING DONG! DING DONG!

The ringing of the doorbell interrupted their talking, making both of them wonder who would dare interrupt such a lovely moment. Sonic got off of the couch and walked toward the door, Amy following him.

Sonic opened the door happily. "Hel- oh." said Sonic stopping mid sentence to change his tone, only to find that no one was there other then two boxes.

Amy walked up behind him and looked over his shoulder. "Who is it?" she asked, making sure that no one was there other then the boxes.

"No one I guess, they only dropped off two boxes." said Sonic with a shrug. He looked down at the boxes to find them a bit strange.

One of them was a big wooden rectangular crate, coming up to Sonic's shoulders. The box was so big that it looked like he could fit in it if he was smaller. The other box however was much smaller and it looked like it was some sort of birthday present. A radiant red ribbon tied the box with its red, yellow and black wrapping paper. But there was no special occasion that called for a present. It wasn't his birthday and Christmas was far away from now, so Sonic passed it off as some sort of gift from a fan. Sonic lugged the large box into his house while Amy carried the smaller one.

The hero set the box next to the dining table while Amy placed the smaller box onto the counter. Before the sleek gift wrapping could touch the marble counter a rectangular envelope dropped out of it and gently swayed down onto the ground. Amy and Sonic looked down at the envelope with a curious look set on both of their faces. Without saying a word, Amy bent down and picked it up, looking at both sides of the letter.

"It doesn't say who it's addressed to, but I guess it's for you." said Amy before handing the white envelope to Sonic.

Sonic gratefully took the envelope from Amy and started to carefully rip the flap off of it. Once done, Sonic took out the piece of paper that was being held within the papery confines of the envelope and unfolded it. A confused look swept over Sonic's face making Amy walk over to him.

"What's it say?" asked Amy, before finally seeing the five word message.

_Open the small box first._

Those were the exact words that were handwritten elegantly onto the small piece of paper. The short message made both Sonic and Amy' eyebrows raised, they then took their eyes off of the message and onto the boxes.

"_What's so special about the small box?" _wondered Amy and Sonic simultaneously.

Sonic walked over to the small box and lifted it up with two hands. He shook it gently and held it to his ear as if trying to tell what was inside of it, like some impatient four year old on his birthday. He then put the box under his arm and shrugged.

"I don't hear any ticking, so it can't be one of Eggman's bombs." he said, remembering all the times that Eggman tried to send him a bomb.

Amy shrugged, finding no threat. "Open it then." said Amy in a plain tone.

If anything, Sonic and Amy would rather prefer a bomb other then the horror that actually hid within the boxes. But life has it cruel twists and turns, this is just one of those things.

Amy walked over to Sonic and watched as the blue hedgehog began to unwrap the present-like box. As Sonic tore the shiny gift wrapping off of the box, a foul odor started to invade the air. The smell was so strong that Sonic could taste the iron tang in his mouth. After two seconds of tasting the acrid smell, he finally registered in his head what the smell was.

"It smells like . . . blood." said Amy blankly, before Sonic took on a disgusted look.

Even with the disgusting thought, Sonic pushed it toward the back of his mind and continued to unwrap the present. A small voice in his head told him to stop though. The same voice told him that what was inside of the box would crush him emotionally. Sonic didn't listen though, he would take the pain no matter what it was. If only he knew, he would have definitely backed down.

After finally unwrapping the present, Sonic put it down on the table and looked down at it. The box was somewhat like a shoebox, with a removable lid, but instead of it being colored in its brand name colors or stickers that determined the shoe size, the sides were completely white. With hands moist with sweat, Sonic slowly took hold of the box's lid and lifted it up. The hideous odor then slammed right into Amy and Sonic, filling both of their lungs with the horrible smell. Amy started to hack and cough at the smell, while Sonic covered his mouth and nose with his hand. He then looked into the box to find the source of the smell and almost threw up at the sight.

Within the small confines of the box, a single goldish yellow tail was set upon torn up paper. The end of it had hardened crimson blood and the white tip was easily recognizable. Once Amy saw the tails, she covered her mouth in shock and small little pebbles of tears started to appear on her face.

"Tails." she whispered, still shocked and disgusted at the sight.

This was a beautiful dream turning into a nightmare for Sonic. Before, he was happily chatting with Amy and now he was back to his moping and shocked self. After seeing the tail one thing popped into the hedgehog's head one thing that brought horror and happiness all at the same time. He looked over at the larger box and ran over to.

"Amy, call 911, Tails in the box." he said rapidly as began to pry the wood off of the crate.

"What!?" asked Amy in a disbelieved tone as she watched Sonic tear through the box.

"Just do it!" yelled Sonic as he tore off another piece.

Amy ran over to the phone and quickly dialed the number as Sonic continued to tear pieces of wood out of the large crate. Horrible scenes of what might be Tails mutilated body flashed into Sonic's mind, but he suppressed them and continued. A few seconds passed by until Sonic had ripped off one whole side of the box and an unconscious fox tumbled out of it.

The scene was horrifying to both Sonic and Amy as they looked at Tails. The poor fox had his hands and feet bound with duct tape and a single small piece of the shiny adhesive also covered his mouth, stopping him from screaming or calling for help. That wasn't the worst part though. Instead of seeing the fox's two twin tails, there was nothing there but two bloody stumps where they should've been. Sonic was on the brink of crying at that moment, but he had to stay focused if he wanted to save his friend. Amy talking rapidly and fearfully on the phone could be heard from behind Sonic as he put his ear to the kitsune's chest, trying to desperately find a heartbeat. Miraculously there was one, faint, but it would have to work.

"Ambulance will be here in a couple of minutes." said Amy as she rushed over to Sonic's side.

This couldn't wait. Sonic got up, Tails in his arms and looked at Amy. "I can get to the hospital a lot faster." Sonic said before running off to the hospital, his trademark blue blur trailing behind him.

Sadness, fear, anger, nervousness, a lot of emotions were swirling around within the blue hedgehog as he ran to save his friend from the death that he feared would come. More tears and more pain were flowing from the hedgehog now more then ever. He hoped that this was all some bad dream, but it wasn't. Eggman had tortured his friend, but for what reason? In his mind, questions appeared and disappeared, as he tried to make sense of it all.

"_Why would Eggman do this?"_

"_Is Tails going to be alright?"_

"_Why Tails?"_

"_Why not me?"_

"_What's happening to Eggman?"_

These were only a few questions that existed momentarily in Sonic's mind as he ran. None of the questions however had an answer. Sonic could only run and cry, with his friend in hand.

Flash!

Sonic burst into the hospital, parts of his arm covered with hardened blood that wasn't his. Everyone looked at him with shocked expression, for a young unconscious fox was in his hands.

"I need help here!" yelled Sonic, before doctors and nurses rushed to his aid.

Flash!

Tails was put onto a gurney, a handful of doctors around him rushing him into the ER. Sonic walked hastily behind the mob of doctors, sweat starting to fall off of his nervous face. The doctors entered a room, but Sonic was stopped at the door by a female nurse.

"I'm sorry, but you can't come in here." she said politely.

Sonic understood and waited at the front entrance for his friends.

Flash!

Four hours later, Amy, Knuckles, Cream, Cheese, Vanilla, Vector, Charmy, Espio and even Shadow were all gathered at the waiting room. Amy brought one of Tails' tails, with hopes that they could somehow reattach it. The doctors took it from her and said that they might be able to do something with it.

No word from any of the doctors working on Tails, making Sonic even more nervous. He was heartbroken after seeing what had happened to Tails, but he had to stay strong for everyone else.

Finally, a doctor strode out of the room and pulled the paper mask down from over his mouth and nose.

"You're friend is going to be alright. He's stable and we were even able to reattach the tail that Ms. Rose brought with her." he said with a smile.

Everyone released a sigh of relief at the words. Sonic was the happiest though, his friend was alright and that was all that mattered. But one thought was stuck in his head. One thought that disturbed him the most and everyone else once he said it aloud.

"Why would Eggman do this?"

**

* * *

So we go from a luvy duvy scene with Amy and Sonic, to a dramatic scene with Tails on the brink of death. Jaw dropping isn't it?**


	6. Clueless Calamity

**Disclaimer: Sonic and co. © Sega**

**I have been watching the TV series 'Lost' on my computer and I think the show is helping me with adding more drama and suspense with this story.**

Chapter Five

Clueless Calamity

1 Month, 24 Days and 10 Hours before Black Egg Armageddon

* * *

_Two days after Tails came back, he was good as new . . . well accept for his missing tail. He told us everything that he could remember, but his new description on Eggman freaked me out the most._

* * *

The next couple of days were a filled with joy and happiness when Tails had returned. Everyone teased him a bit on his missing tail, but they all decided to stick to his original nickname. At least he had one left, so he wouldn't seem as much as a freak later on, but Tails was Tails even though he went through some cruel torture. Nothing seemed to break Tails childish spirit when he came back, even after being tortured, the fox was still able to laugh, talk and even smile, which made Sonic feel good to see that his little buddy was as strong willed as he is, maybe even stronger.

A beautiful sky was bright and shiny, with no clouds and nothing but a beaming hot sun above Station Square. Mobians of all shapes and sizes walked, ran or jogged through the city, filling the streets with lots of people. Cars strode by carefully, following the rules of the road to keep everything safe. Everything looked normal and everyone hoped it would stay that way. But there's always the feeling that something bad was going to happen, but that was normal, since Sonic the hedgehog did live in the city.

"His muscles are huge! Almost as thick as a Christmas ham!" said an over exaggerating Tails as he sat in the hospital bed.

Sonic sat next to Tails' hospital bed; his feet on the edge of the windowsill and a carefree look on his face. Sunrays beamed into the white room giving it a cozy feeling. Doctors, nurses and janitors walked at a working pace outside of Tails' room, but neither of the two minded the commotion. Next to the windowsill were vases with flowers that had 'get well' cards with them. So far, Tails had received a lovely bouquet from Sonic and Amy which made Tails believe that they were dating now, a bunch of pulled weeds from Charmy, an elegant Lily flower from Espio, an assortment of flowers from Vector, a single rose from Shadow, who Sonic forced him into getting him a flower, and a wonderful vase filled with flowers from all ethnicity from Vanilla, Cream and Cheese.

After a while of listening to Tails talk about Eggman's new body, Sonic was starting to think that maybe Tails was a bit delusional. Like he would believe that Eggman somehow turned into some massive brute like the Incredible Hulk, Sonic has seen a lot of crazy things, but he couldn't just believe that his obese nemesis could lose weight and gain muscles in a couple of days. But Sonic just passed it off as some delusion since Tails did suffer some serious head wounds that could've messed with his brain.

"Really?" asked Sonic in a curious tone that he was faking just to seem interested in Tails' rambling.

"Seriously! He got buffer and crazier two!" exclaimed Tails.

But there was some truth somewhere in Tails' talking. The fox had to remember something from his kidnapping. Even though it sounded ridiculous, Sonic did kind of believe Tails. At the beginning of his story, Tails said that Eggman didn't bring any robotic scrap heads with him, which perked his curiosity. Them Tails said that he used his Mark II Zeus Gauntlets on Eggman but still lost. Sonic has seen the metal gauntlets and was highly impressed with Tails' ability to make a weapon that he could use in case of an emergency, but if Eggman can beat those _without_ any robotic help, then there is definitely something wrong.

"Do you remember anything else?" asked Sonic, trying to get some more information out of Tails.

"Well," said Tails, trying to remember everything. "Before he knocked me, out he did say something about water."

Sonic was fascinated with Tails huge amount of willpower. If Sonic was in a situation like Tails, his spirit would be snapped like a twig, but Tails was still able to retain his child-like attitude even through the darkest of hours.

"Come on buddy, you've got to remember everything." said Sonic.

He had to get some clues out of Tails that might tell him who his next target is or what his plans are. Eggman's physical description and changes to his body could wait.

* * *

Amy was at Sonic's house, after what had happened. She was glad that they got their friend back and even happier to see that he wasn't in some sort of traumatic shock from his torture. A smile adorned the pink hedgehog's face as she plumped down onto Sonic's cough, TV remote in hand. In front of her was a table and on top of it the small envelope that they had received from Eggman that said 'Open the small box first.' Amy wanted to throw it away, but Sonic kept on insisting that he kept it since it might hold some sort of secret clue.

The TV held no interesting stories or shows that Amy wanted to watch, so she had to deal with a subpar episode of a drama she had already watched. After about ten minutes of bland television Amy got off of the couch to go get a drink of water.

* * *

"It's kind of foggy, but he looked me in the eye and told me some stuff." Said Tails as he scratched the top of his head which was wrapped in bandages.

He had to remember, if Eggman was as cruel and as strong as Tails described him as, the information might hold the key to saving someone's life.

"You've got to more descriptive, bud." said Sonic, as he leaned in closer to Tails.

Tails leaned back in his bed, trying to remember the rambling of the mad doctor when he was bolted to a wall on the verge of death. Anyone would have totally forgotten that moment, but since Tails was smarter then others, his memory was good.

"Something about an envelope and water . . . but there was one more thing . . ." said Tails, trailing off to remember.

Envelope and water, that instantly registered in Sonic's head the letter they got from Eggman when they found Tails and water. Not that much information, but it would to work for now.

* * *

Amy got back with her glass of water and placed it next to the envelope. She then carelessly plopped back onto the couch. The sounds of a single button being repeatedly pressed was in the air as Amy whizzed through the channels, finding nothing on. She then lifted her legs up and set them onto the table, but recklessly spilled the glass of water she had brought over. Amy jumped to her feet startled at the sudden spill and ran over to get paper towels to soak up the water.

* * *

Tails was starting to think hard, as Sonic watched. "He said it was someone we know."

"Like his next target?" asked Sonic, jumping to conclusions.

"I don't know, but all I've got so far is that he said something about water, an envelope and someone we know." replied Tails with a shrug.

"Tell me, we can't let Eggman take someone else." demanded Sonic, trying to keep his voice down.

The information was starting to get serious. Eggman's next target might be someone they know, a friend, a family member, anyone. Tails found that he had to remember, he wanted to save a life now. Both of them knew the importance of the information, with it, they could save one of their friends.

* * *

Once Amy got back with the paper towels, she found that the letter from Eggman had been soaked with water. With an embarrassed little shriek, she ran over to it and picked it up. Amy then began to wipe the water off of the table, the letter laying on the floor next to her.

* * *

Tails then jumped a little in his bed, finally remembering an important piece of the mind puzzle. "He said it would be a girl!" he exclaimed.

Sonic took on a nervous expression. He didn't know many girls, but if Eggman was going to attack who he thinks he's going to attack he had to hurry.

"Quick! Before I go, is there anything else that you need to tell me?" asked Sonic, ready to go run to his house.

* * *

After wiping all of the cold liquid off of Sonic's table, she looked down at the soggy letter. She picked it up and found something new written on the paper. Something that was never there before.

* * *

Tails tried to remember and to his surprise he found something hidden within his head. "He said that the girl has a crush on someone."

Things were starting to fall into place and Sonic knew who Eggman was after. He was ready to start running. He put one foot forward, about to push himself into his supersonic speed.

"Wait!" yelled Tails from his bed.

Sonic stopped his run and looked at his friend. Sonic cursed under his breath, he had to hurry.

"I remember something! I have a name!" said Tails, making Sonic stop dead in his tracks.

That was it, the information that would relieve Sonic if Tails would say the any other name other then Amy.

* * *

Amy picked up the moist letter and on the back of it some new words were inked in. She looked at it with a confused glare, but instantly found meaning in it. A shocked look made its way onto Amy's face as she dropped the soggy piece of paper. Mouth open with shock, the paper had three things on it. A name, a date and a specific time. The date was set for today, the time was one minute from now and the name shocked her the most.

* * *

"It's-"

BOOOOOOOOMMMMM!

A loud explosion sounded in the distance cut Tails off midsentence. The explosion was still in Station Square, but loud enough so Sonic couldn't hear what Tails had said. People within the hospital started to scream and run about while Tails looked through the window to see a plume of smoke rising into the air. Sonic pinpointed the location and ran off. This couldn't wait any longer and he hoped it wasn't who he thought it was.

* * *

In the distance, fires burned and smoke arose into the air. People screaming for help joined in with the sounds of sirens that belong to firefighters. Within the fire, a large hulking mass strode, as if the fire had no affect on him. This new enemy wore a red jacket that was unbuckled and flailing open so people could see his well toned abs underneath. Black boots crunched the charred car that he was stepping on as the massive human walked off of it. A psychotic smile was placed on the man's small head and his round glasses shimmered in the fires illumination.

"Showtime."

* * *

**And now I start to shake things up a bit. Yes, I added an hour slot, because I'm going to start turning the clock back a bit in this story, so just you wait.**


	7. The Target

**Disclaimer: Sonic and co. © Sega**

**Now I turn back the hands of time by an hour before Chapter Six began.**

Chapter Six

The Target

1 Month, 24 and 11 Hours before Black Egg Armageddon

* * *

_Eggman's smart, everyone knows that. His big ego usually gets in the way of his big plans though which make him look really stupid. Not anymore, now we're playing his mind games._

_

* * *

_

An hour before the very explosion that would trigger a cataclysmic fight between Sonic and the new Eggman, everything was peaceful. Somewhere on an empty freeway however, a black Lamborghini with a purple stripe running up the middle of it raced through. Rules of the road were all forgotten as the driver drove through at speeds that might even catch up to Sonic if he was running at a luxury pace. Rays of sunlight blanketed Station Square as the car slowed down once it hit civilian filled streets, making a relaxed Rouge the bat exhale deeply.

Two days before, Rouge received a call from Knuckles, telling her that they had found Tails. So she came over from one of her treasure hunting expedition to go see the young fox. The red stoplight hindered her car from advancing any further, but Rouge could use the little moment of relaxation after plowing through traffic. She let her head rest against the back of her leather seats, as a gentle breeze blew through the window and chilled her white fur. Her large bat ears could hear people yelling out prices for hot dogs and teenage girls chatting about the latest gossip outside her car, which reminded her of herself when she was young. The light turned green and she advanced forward once again.

* * *

Somewhere within the placid city, a large man strode about, minding his own business. Huge, heavily muscled arms, as thick as Christmas hams remained uncovered, for the man wore only a sleeveless red coat that was unbuttoned so the public could see his well toned abs underneath. A large belt held the man's tight pants on that covered his black army-like boots as the man took another large stride. He was so tall that Vector the crocodile would probably come to about his chest. His legs were skinny though, but in time they would become as strong as his arms. Huge beefy arms were hidden within the man's pockets as he walked and the sun glinted off of his round glasses. Sure he still had the long orange-brown mustache, but his huge change in appearance masked his true identity.

He was whistling a carefree tune as he walked past hotdog stands and people, but no one really minded. As he passed by some places he secretly stuck small disk–like control detonated bombs in places where people don't normally look. The doctor didn't turn his back on technology, only the robotic parts that used to help him in battle. Now he would just use a machine only if it exploded or destroyed, but never a massive army of robotic warriors. He may have gained brute strength, but he still had his mad scientist IQ.

* * *

Yet another stoplight stopped Rouge and the bat gave out a frustrated sigh. To take up some time, she forgot what hospital she was heading to and grabbed her phone. She dialed her friend's number and waited as the phone rang.

"If you're selling something, I don't want it." said the voice on the other line directly.

Rouge gave out another frustrated sigh before answering. "Knuckles, it's me, Rouge." she said in a nonchalant tone.

"Oh, Rouge, what's up?" replied Knuckles, at first the echidna sounded embarrassed, but came back with a normal question.

A while back, before the whole Eggman turning insane thing, Tails was able to give Knuckles a regular cell phone that even Knuckles could understand. It was hard at first, since Knuckles wasn't really into technology because he lived out most of his life on Angel Island, but Tails was able to dumb it down a bit so he could use it. Now Knuckles just carries a normal red cell phone, no futuristic internet connection, no application to take a picture, or gizmo that would allow him to text, just a basic 'push the numbers and call people' phone.

"What hospital is Tails staying at? I kinda forgot." asked Rouge in an embarrassed tone.

"The one of Fourth Street, can't miss it. I'll be there in like ten minutes." replied Knuckles easily.

"Kay, thanks." Thanks Rouge before hanging up.

So far, Rouge only knew that Tails was kidnapped by Eggman and now he's back, she doesn't know what condition he's in or even the fact that he's missing a tail. She just wants t go see the kid after such a tough time. The light turned green and she lightly pushed on the cars acceleration pedal, making it go forward, but before she got any further a large brute smashed into the car in front of her, killing both the driver and passenger that was within it. Rouge was shocked at the attack and looked at the assailant's face. She instantly recognized the man's face, and Rouge's mouth dropped open in shock after seeing the man's buff body.

It was definitely Eggman, but at the same time, it wasn't. Eggman looked up and met eyes with Rouge, the screaming of people all around filling the air, as a single bead of sweat formed on the bat's head. "Hi Rouge." He said simply, a smile creasing on his face.

Fear was the only thing lingering within Rouge's mind as she looked at the reformed Eggman. Her face then hardened into a serious one, as if she knew she was going to live. Instead of coming up with some witty little quip to taunt Eggman with, she smashed her foot onto another pedal which sent her car in reverse. Her heart was beating like the bass sound of a fast flowing techno song and fear was eating away at her. She couldn't believe Eggman's drastic change, but after looking through the man's glasses and into his eyes she could tell that this wasn't a dream. Eggman stood straight up, his massive figure still being held by the destroyed car. His odd actions made Rouge stop driving in reverse and look at the man.

"He's still smiling." whispered Rouge to herself before leaning over the steering wheel to see Eggman's pearly whites glistening in the sun. Rouge then realized something and smashed her foot into the acceleration pedal. It was a trap.

* * *

**Back to the Present**

BOOOOOOOOMMM!!!

So now we catch up to present occurrences, the time where Sonic is about to race off into the city to fight off yet another attack by Eggman and when Amy is sitting in horror after seeing Rouge's name on the soggy piece of paper that she had just picked up. So it turns out that Sonic wasn't fast enough to catch onto Eggman's plan this time, if only he hadn't let his accusation in the way, he might have been able to get to Rouge faster, but everyone makes a mistake. But this mistake has its cost.

A blue blur burst out of the hospital doors and straight for the explosion, passing a confused red echidna who obviously saw his speedy friend. Knuckles turned around and watched as a blue streak made its way to the cause of the explosion. Two seconds later, Knuckles began his run after Sonic, since the echidna could play hero as well.

While all of the commotion was happening, Tails sat peacefully atop his assigned hospital bed, looking out the window and at the smoke that was snaking its way into the sky. He hoped everything would be alright, but he remembered how strong Eggman had become. Things weren't going to be alright, so Tails ended up hoping for the best case scenario.

* * *

Fire was starting to burn the leather upholstery that was within Rouge's car as the bat coughed and spat blood and soot from her mouth. Moments before, both sides of the street exploded, swallowing her car in flames and killing many innocent people. The bat crawled out of her mangled car, to find that all of the wheels were blown and a metal rod stabbing in through the trunk, if the rod had gotten any further, it would have impaled her through chest. Fires burned the walls of apartments and smoke arose into the blue sky above, a perfect day gone to waste now.

None of that mattered now, what mattered was surviving Eggman's onslaught. Rouge pulled herself to her feet just in time to see Eggman walk off of the destroyed car he had landed on only minutes before, his lips whispering some sort word unheard by Rouge. The most disturbing fact about Eggman was that he was still smiling, no laughing, just a wide ear to ear smile that would make even the bravest of men shiver in fear. But Rouge wasn't scared, she remained the same back sassing Rouge and got into the thrill of the fight.

"So what? You finally found that weight loss formula?" taunted Rouge as she started to slowly step backwards and away from Eggman, a cocky smile on her face.

She couldn't fight Eggman on equal terms since his muscles held an unknown amount of power. So all Rouge could do was keep on taunting and backing away. A fight with Eggman alone would be her death sentence. Fear was finally starting to catch up to the bat now, and the realization made her heart rate increase even more, but she didn't show her fear and instead hid it behind a courageous façade. Was it the firing burning all around scaring her? Was it the screams of agonizing pain scaring her? No, it was the feeling of death that scared her. Before she could fight Eggman's robotic armies without a sweat, but now was different. Now she's fighting an Eggman that has the guts to fight, an Eggman that could actually kill her.

"Yes, Rouge. I found a system that actually works, and you know what?" asked Eggman, stopping his little walk.

Rouge chuckled, now she was having small talk with the person who was going to kill her, how quaint. "What?" asked Rouge, the same cocky smile on her white furred face.

"It has killer results." said Eggman, his smile growing even larger.

From a normal standing position, Eggman started to run toward Rouge at high speeds. In a matter of seconds, Eggman filled the gap that separated Rouge from himself and now he was in front of the bat. His increase in speed was unreal, but Rouge didn't have any time to marvel on the miracle, she was busy trying to survive. Eggman raised his foot high above Rouge's head, ready to smash her body into the ground like an empty soda can.

Before the power of the crushing foot could smash into the bat, a blue revolving ball smashed into Eggman's side causing the man to lose balance. After the blue spiraling ball bounced off of Eggman, a familiar red echidna punched the doctor in the gut, causing the doctor to fly sideways and bust right through a wall and into a building. Knuckles stood next to Rouge, while the blue ball uncurled itself before hitting the ground revealing Sonic the hedgehog. Knuckles had an exhausted look on his face from catching up with Sonic and punching that sack of muscle which was Eggman. Sonic however, had a shocked look on his face, telling Rouge that he's never seen Eggman like that.

"What the hell was that thing? It's freakin' huge!" said Knuckles as he marveled at the thing he had just punched.

"That's-"

"Eggman." said Sonic, finishing Rouge's sentence.

The doctor's new appearance definitely matched Tails' description. He had the huge muscles, beefy hands, same slim legs and a large psychotic smile. Sonic couldn't believe his eyes, it was like living some horrible dream at that moment.

The large doctor got out from beneath the rubble and rocks, and started wiping some dust off of his pants. No scratches were on him from any of the attacks that Sonic and Knuckles just unleashed on him.

"Yes, yes, it's Eggman. Now we can all celebrate and be happy." said a happy Eggman as he looked at the three. The same evil smile on his face.

Anger was starting to boil within Sonic. No scale could fathom how much rage engulfed the blue hedgehog. This monster, ripped off both of his friend's tails.

Everyone was confused, angry or calm at the predicament. Sonic being the angered Mobian, the want of killing Eggman burning within the hedgehog. Rouge being the calm one, she has no idea what has happened to Eggman or why he chose to attack her, but she didn't care. And Knuckles being the totally baffled one; Eggman's new form was as shocking like watching rocks being turned into gold before his very eyes. Normality was lost in the wind now, but the scent of battle now floating in the air.

"Come one, Come all! Feast your eyes on the destruction of Sonic the hedgehog, Knuckles the echidna and Rouge the bat!" yelled Eggman playfully as if he were a ringmaster at a circus.

* * *

_We're nothing but playthings to that man now. Just his little dolls and his puppets that he either wants to break emotionally or dismember physically. This is only the beginning though. He's only taking his first steps on the road to insanity.  
_

* * *

**Dun dun dun! **


	8. Not Fast Enough

**Disclaimer: Sonic and co. ©Sega**

**Onward to battle!**

Chapter Seven

Not Fast Enough

1 Month, 24 Days and 9 Hours before Black Egg Armageddon

* * *

_No more fighting an obese and self-indulged Eggman. No more of that fat man who always commands giant fleets of robots. We're only left with the monster that crawled out of his insane head._

* * *

Screaming, yelling and sirens all brewed together within the day's humid air, creating a symphony of dreadful noises. People ran for their lives, calling for help while others lay sprawled on the ground, motionless and dead. Never before has Eggman caused such a disaster that had so many casualties. Usually, Eggman would attack more remote areas, rarely inhabited, or he would attack and enslave some people, but now he's attacking more populated areas. Smoke polluted most of the air that Sonic breathed in, but he didn't care right now. The only thing that mattered the most was taking Eggman down.

Knuckles stood next to Sonic and Rouge, a confused and shocked look on his face. Fighting this new Eggman was scary and shocking at the same time. Rouge was feeling the same way, but she hid her fear she felt behind a serious facade. Moments ago she was afraid she was going to die, but after Sonic and Knuckles joined in, she started to feel a bit more relaxed and the feeling of death at her side diminished.

"What? No heroic monologue to start the fight?" asked Eggman as he looked at Sonic. Eggman could easily see the anger brewing within Sonic and now he was going to harvest it for his own entertainment.  
"Come on Sonic, I know you have something to say to me." He stated with a smile.

He couldn't take it anymore and Sonic just burst out with questions. "Why did you kidnap Tails? Why didn't you attack me instead? And where the hell is his other Tail!?" asked Sonic, in a more of a demanding tone.

A happy laugh echoed out of Eggman's mouth as he held his stomach. It was as if he had heard a funny joke. "Finally, you come out with your little questions. First off, I kidnapped Tails, because I was bored. Second, fighting you would've been a bit droll at the time and third," His smile widened as he dug his hand into his pocket. "here's his other tail." he said as he took out a severed tail from his pocket.

The tail definitely belongs to Tails, but it was different now. Small blotches of blood stained the golden-yellow tail and for some reason it seemed a bit torn. At the point where it should have been connected to Tails, a metal cap was applied to make it some sort of keychain.

"I hear that a fox's tail is good look in some places." stated Eggman with a smile.

Right then and there, Sonic found that Eggman has reached the all time epiphany of cruelty. Taking his friend's tail is bad, but keeping one of them as some sort of good luck charm or celebratory trophy is both disgusting and horrifying. There was no way Sonic could keep his rage pent up inside of him any longer, he just let it all out, giving Eggman exactly what he wanted.

"That's it!" roared Sonic before racing toward Eggman.

The smile on Eggman's face remained unchanged after seeing Sonic's sudden outburst of anger. In the small seconds Eggman had before Sonic rammed into him, the doctor easily sidestepped Sonic's attack and watched as the hedgehog ran past him. Sonic skidded to a halt after noticing his failed attack on Eggman. The cobalt hedgehog swung around and ran toward Eggman again, this time he curled his body into his Spin Dash position. Instead of moving out of the way again, Eggman stood still and watched the speedy hero attack. Moments before Sonic could finally ram into Eggman, the doctor drew both of his arms behind his back and threw them forward, stopping Sonic. The doctor started to push harder and harder, making sure that Sonic wouldn't go anywhere. Both of them engaged in some sort of pushing game, except no one was winning.

"Is that it?" grunted Eggman as he continued to halt Sonic with his large arms.

"There's more then one enemy doc!" yelled another voice from behind Eggman. The doctor was so caught up with Sonic, he forgot about the other two nuisances behind him.

Eggman, with all his might, finally pushed Sonic a good distance away from him and turned around, but he was only seconds too late. Rouge flew in, landing a powerful kick on Eggman's face, stunning the man and causing him to take small steps backwards in his daze. Knuckles then rushed the woozy man and jumped up, driving a powerful, rock hard fist into the man's face. The incredible punch sent Eggman flying backwards this time, but it wasn't over yet. Sonic then revved himself up again and rammed into Eggman, driving the brute forward through the wall of a building. Eggman disappeared as the rubble and dust filled the air along with the black smoke that came from the fire. While the doctor lay under the concrete remains of the destroyed wall, the sound of fire trucks erupted into the air, as the fire trucks pulled up near the fires. Firefighters then doused the flames with water and evacuated the remaining injured civilians.

Sonic looked at the pile of rubble, a cocky smile on his face. Rouge stepped up next to him and both of them searched for any signs of movement. As the civilians were saved, a sudden wave of relief hit the hedgehog. Everyone was safe and there weren't that many casualties.

"He's not so tough. Sure, he looks huge, but he can't use it like I can." said Knuckles with a chuckle as he stepped up next to Sonic.

Rouge looked at the mound with a serious glare. She didn't believe his little act at all. "Don't get to cocky you two, he's just playing with us." She said firmly, making both Sonic and Knuckles look at her with shocked expressions.

A joyful laugh erupted from within the pile of rock and plaster. "Good Rouge, very perceptive of you to see through my rouse." said Eggman normally as a figure rose up from under the pile of rubble.

Moments ago, all three of them unleashed a brutal attack on the man, but now he dusted it off as if it was nothing.

Eggman then looked at the shocked Sonic and Knuckles, as a smile crawled onto the man's face. "Come on now, leave those shocked expressions behind and let's have a good fight. Besides, I need to test this new body of mine." said Eggman in a playful manner.

After hearing Eggman's seemingly carefree statement, Knuckles put on a sudden irritated and angered face. Blinded with rage, Knuckles charged Eggman, an angry roar echoing from the echidna. Knuckles was giving Eggman exactly what he wanted, blinding rage, trembling fear, and massive confusion. The echidna caught a flash of Eggman's smile before the doctor shot his fist forward in a punch.

To Knuckles, it was like he was being hit in the face with a large boulder. The punch sent the echidna flying backwards and in through a store window. Sonic watched as the echidna disappeared into the store's burning walls. With a quick turn, Sonic found himself staring at Eggman once again, but this time he had to think. Straight forward attacks would do no good against a beast of such high brutality, so speed and tactic were his only options left. Luckily for the cobalt hedgehog, speed was his forte, and in the treasure hunter, thief sort of way, Rouge had the tactics.

"Go around him and attack from his backside, I'll attack from the front as a distraction." said Rouge, her face a mixture of seriousness and anger.

"I'll be there in the blink of an eye." said a cocky hedgehog as he started to do some warm-up stretches.

Sonic was more confident now. He didn't think that the fight would be that bad. If Eggman wanted to play games, then Sonic would play along. Besides, pretending like the fear wasn't there made Sonic feel as though he would win the fight.

"Three," Rouge was now starting her little countdown until their attack. "Two," The same cocky smile creased across Sonic's face, he was ready. "One, go!" yelled Rouge, before Sonic disappeared in a sudden blur of motion, leaving the bat to charge Eggman alone.

With swift motions that might copy the movements of some elegant dancer, Rouge brought her foot up and kicked at Eggman's chest, only to be blocked by the man's huge arms. After a couple minutes of rapid kicking Rouge abruptly stopped her attack. The sudden halt made a bewildered look wash onto Eggman's face.

"You're still slow." said a familiar male voice from behind Eggman.

Eggman quickly turned away from Rouge, but was too late. His new body and strength got in the way of his intellect and let his enemy attack him with the simplest of attacks. Suddenly, Eggman's sight was awash with cobalt blue color, because Sonic had smashed into his face using his signature Spin Jump technique. The stunned doctor, wobbled backwards, the attack throwing him off balance. All Eggman could see was random blurs and flashes of colors as he slowly stepped backwards. Rouge took another leap toward Eggman, trying to send her kick right between the man's eyes. The battle scene slowed down into slow motion, Rouge's foot only a couple inches away from smashing into Eggman's face and it was still crawling forward. Eggman looked at the incoming foot with astonishment.

"Interesting." said the doctor to himself as he scratched his chin in regular speed.

It was no magic or scientific machine that was altering the pure fabric of time, it was speed. Eggman looked at Rouge, her face still frozen into the serious glare that could make a brave man shiver in terror. Before the doctor could exploit his newfound boost speed, a sudden chuckle was heard from behind him. Eggman knew who was standing behind him, since the person behind him was one of the few people who could attain this speed.

"Not so slow now am I?" asked Eggman as he turned around to find Sonic staring at him.

Sonic chuckled again, things were going from a dull fight to one of great interest for him. Moments before he was angry at Eggman for torturing Tails, but the hedgehog still sees the doctor as weak and as careless as before, the sudden change in events were only a little variable.

"I don't know how you are able to get this fast, but I seriously don't care." said Sonic with his cocky grin before he charged Eggman.

Eggman was now fighting in Sonic's little world. The world where things and people move at a slower pace, and the world where saving the days is easier. The doctor had no idea how he was able to enter this state of pure speed, but he didn't care, he just wanted to enjoy the little moment.

Sonic smashed into Eggman with the force of a train, driving Eggman backwards. With a sudden burst of speed and power, Sonic swept Eggman off of his feet and was now starting to plow the man through building walls. The doctor was new to this world, so he had no idea how to utilize its laws and physics to his advantage. Robnik was impressed though, he knew of Sonic's speed, but never imagined that he was so fast that he could literally slow time. Shadow could achieve this on his own, without a doubt. But if you gave Sonic or Shadow a Chaos Emerald, they could stop time completely. Having entered this world gave Eggman a sense of accomplishment.

As Sonic smashed Eggman threw building walls, the loose bricks and dust remained frozen in mid air, only to move forward at a crawling pace. After smashing the man through at least ten walls, Sonic skidded to a halt, making Ivo fly off and onto the concrete ground. The wall behind Sonic then exploded suddenly, sending bricks and plaster everywhere indicating that both of them left the slow dimension.

"That's a nice trick you have there. How'd you do it?" asked Eggman as he got back to his feet. A bit of dust on his shoulders, but after a quick wipe it was gone.

"It's a little speed trick, that sorta copies the power of Chaos Control. All you need is a huge amount of speed, then boom! Ya got yourself some weird time paradox thingy." said Sonic with a chuckle.

Fear and anger were no longer devouring Sonic anymore. The hedgehog was just imagining that this was just another fight with Eggman, except on different terms. Sonic would get his revenge and all would go well. Eggman wanted to see his rage and fear, so that's why he didn't show any of it. He would show Eggman that's he's still the hero no matter what.

Eggman turned around and about, as if looking for something, making Sonic raise an eyebrow in curiosity. The doctor finally found what he was looking for and set his eyes upon an analog clock on the wall.

"Glad we had this chat Sonic, but I'm running a bit off schedule. Thanks for the little tip on your time paradox anomaly though." said Eggman quaintly as he ran off toward Rouge's location, leaving a gray streak of motion behind him.

The sudden burst of speed from Eggman made Sonic's jaw drop in surprise. Now he actually got a glimpse of Eggman's real speed out of the time paradox thing. Sonic shook the confusion off and started his chase after Eggman, he couldn't let the man get away. At first he thought that Eggman entering his speed world was some sort of fluke made by one of his machines, but it was real, Eggman could achieve a velocity that was almost equal to his. After seconds of running, Sonic was able to match Eggman's speed and was now running next to him.

"Hold it! You're not going anywhere!" yelled Sonic as he continued to run alongside Eggman.

"So sorry my friend, but I have someone I need to kill." said Eggman, not even looking at Sonic.

"Oh no you don't!" exclaimed Sonic as he jumped up and thrust his foot forward.

The little race came to a halt, as Eggman held his arm up in a block against Sonic's attack. The fear was starting to come back now, and Sonic had no idea why. Instead of giving more of his time to think about it, he started his attack instead. Punches and kicks were launched rapidly at Eggman, but none of the attacks hit their intended target as Eggman matched Sonic's speed and blocked each attack instantly. Sweat was now starting to form upon Sonic's brow as he continued to punch.

"Shocking how a man could change in only a few days, don't you think?" asked Eggman with a smile, as he continued to easily block Sonic's attacks.

A seemingly easy day against his foe turned into a difficult one against a new enemy. This was something different then your oblivious Eggman stumbling into an awkward hand to hand combat fight, this was a headstrong monster rushing into a fight with bloodshed in mind. Sonic continued to unleash punch after punch on Eggman, but they never hit his body. After a couple more minutes of senseless punching, Eggman grabbed one of Sonic's incoming punches in his hand and didn't let go. The defenseless hedgehog tried to pull his fist back, but to no avail.

"Like I said, I have someone I need to kill." said Eggman before lifting Sonic off of his feet and throwing him through a wall.

Before Sonic could get back up, Eggman was gone.

* * *

Things were starting to calm down now, as the firefighters carefully escorted the wounded from smoldering fires and into the careful care of paramedics. Knuckles was already up and woozily made his way to a confused Rouge. After being sent through seven walls made of concrete Knuckles was knocked unconscious for a while, so he had no idea what had happened minutes before.

"What happened? Where's Sonic and Egghead?" asked Knuckles as he looked around.

"I don't know. One second my foot's centimeters away from Eggman's face, then the next second both of them are gone." replied Rouge with a shrug.

Disappearing into thin air was a new trick for Eggman. In her mind, Rouge could recall all of the failed gadgets that Eggman came up with, like an invisibility cloak, a mind controlling machine or some other machine that failed in its attempt to help Eggman take over the world. But instant teleportation was new, and right now it looks like it's working.

"Maybe Sonic rammed him into a wall or something." suggested Knuckles, trying to ease the nervous bat.

"Probably," sighed Rouge as she turned to face Knuckles. Rouge's eyes met with Knuckles, and she fought the urge to blush.

For a while now, Rouge and Knuckles have kept their emotions hidden from each other under their tough attitudes. Knuckles always acted tougher around Rouge. And the elegant bat, acted the same way. Sometimes they would tease each other with the fact, and at other times they denied it. Even though they hated to admit it, they did love each other they just never admitted it.

"Just leave it alone, Sonic can take down Eggman no matter what tricks he hides up his sleeve." said Knuckles with a reassuring tone. "Let's just get out of here."

Rouge nodded before her gaze looked past Knuckles and her jaw dropped open in shock. "Get down!" Rouge grabbed Knuckles and she pulled him to the side, causing both of them to fall on their backs.

Seconds before, Rouge caught a sudden glimpse of what seemed to be a large object running toward them. But after pulling the dumbfounded Knuckles away from the tackle, Rouge found that it was Eggman. The doctor skidded to a halt once he passed his target and turned around to find Rouge getting onto her feet, as Knuckles looked at the brute.

"That's wasn't nice. I was supposed to ram into both of you and smash you through an untold number of cement walls." said Eggman in an embarrassed tone, as he scratched his bald head.

Knuckles got to his feet, Eggman's playful choice of words irritating every nerve. The echidna then looked at the doctor with a serious glare and took a fighting stance.

"Try it again, and you'll be the one being smashed through walls." spat Knuckles in a cocky manner.

Even though seeing Eggman's dramatic change from fat maniacal scientist, to hulking mass of psychotic muscle, Knuckles was not afraid. After hanging around Sonic for a long time, the blur hero's cockiness and attitude did rub off on him in a way. In some situations, cockiness would be a positive attribute to have, but in others it would be a persons' downfall.

A low, mocking laugh escaped from Eggman's lips as he threw his head backwards in joy. The sudden outburst made Knuckles raise an eyebrow in suspicion.

"If you insist Knuckles, but I can only spare you a couple of minutes of my time. After that I have to kill Rouge." stated Eggman as he stopped his laughter and wiped a small tear from his eye.

The words struck a nerve in Knuckles' heart. He harnessed the anger he felt instead. Knuckles face crunched up and contorted into one of pure hatred for the doctor. Eggman instantly caught on, to the echidna's feeling for Rouge, and now he would begin his mind games.

"Oh! I'm sorry, I meant I was going to kill your girlfriend." The same smile stayed the same, but got even wider in size. His superior intellect would allow him to play some serious head games with Knuckles.

Fuelled with pure rage and irritation, Knuckles charged Eggman, the intent to kill him in his head. Once Knuckles got close to Eggman, the enraged echidna unleashed a flurry of ferocious punches. Each of Knuckles' punches failing to land, as Eggman easily shifted his body side to side to avoid them. Dodging the echidna's attack was much easier, since Knuckles wasn't as fast as Sonic.

"Stand still damn it! I want to beat the crap out of you!" growled Knuckles in an irritated tone.

Even as Eggman dodged the attacks, he was still able to taunt Knuckles with his psychotic smile. "Come on! Forty more seconds! You either land a punch or don't!" taunted Eggman.

"SHUT UP!" roared the echidna before increasing the speed of his punches.

Once Knuckles increased his punching speed, Eggman increased his dodging speed. The anger was just making the battle more enjoyable for Eggman. Ever since he transformed into this brute, fighting, killing and destroying things were much more enjoyable then they used to be. Watching people die and scream in pain was another thing he liked as well, but the dramatic changes did scare him. Eggman was still a man of logic and science and even he could tell that the serum was taking some toll on his mental wellbeing.

Knuckles threw another punch forward, and the fist hit nothing as Eggman dodged the attack. As Knuckles put his weight on his foot, he lost his footing and the echidna slipped. The doctor instantly took advantage of the opportunity and quickly moved in toward Knuckles. In the blink of an eye, Eggman seized Knuckles by the throat and was lifting him into the air. The suffocating echidna tried to squirm out of the doctor's grasp, but failed. Instead of panicking and losing all of his air at once, Knuckles tried to stay calm.

"Let him go!" yelled a female voice from behind Eggman.

Rouge ran forward and jumped into the air, her foot facing outwards in a kick. Before her foot could crash into Eggman's small head, she was caught by the doctor in one big muscle filled arm. Now both the echidna and bat were now within the grasp of Eggman. Rouge struggled to get free, only for Eggman to tighten his grasp, causing Rouge to cry out in pain.

"Now this is the movie moment in reverse." said Eggman with a smile. "Usually it's the boy who selflessly risks his life to save the girl, not the other way around."

"Just let Knuckles go." spat Rouge, knowing that she could at least save one life before she died.

"I will grant your dying wish." Eggman said. He lifted Knuckles up and threw him aside, only for him to skid across the ground like a ragdoll.

Knuckles tried to get up and only saw Rouge try to wriggle free of Eggman's grasp. He got to his feet, but he was too far away to save her and he knew it, but he didn't care. Knuckles started running toward her, and hoped he would get there in time. Speed wasn't his thing, it was Sonic who was the master of it. No matter how hard Knuckles tried, he knew he couldn't save her.

Eggman threw Rouge to the ground, the force breaking some of the bat's bones. Rouge could feel that some of her ribs were broken, and somewhere along her leg there was a fracture. She was hopelessly stuck on the ground waiting to die. The doctor walked toward the bat and positioned his foot a foot away from her head.

"Any last words?" asked Eggman kindly. At least the doctor did have some manners for a psychotic brute.

Rouge looked at Eggman, the fear was gone and was replaced with regret. She would die without confessing her love. But she wouldn't die like that, she wanted to die with no regret in life and that was exactly what she would do. She looked to the side and her eyes met with Knuckles' eyes for one last time.

"Knuckles!" Rouge cried out, as tears started to come out of her eyes.

After hearing her cry out to him, a shocked look came onto Knuckles' face. People always do extreme things in hard times and Knuckles knew that. The echidna also knew that Rouge had feelings for him, but always figured that she would never tell him. To everyone else, Knuckles was always proclaimed to be the gullible or stupid one. Even with these outrageous proclamations, the echidna did know one thing, and that's the fact that he loved Rouge.

Knuckles looked into Rouge's weeping eyes as she said her final words. "I love you."

Eggman plunged his foot downwards onto Rouge's head with the force that could break stones as tears started fall from Knuckles' face as he ran toward him.

CRUNCH!

A wet crunch filled the air around Knuckles, telling him that there was no point in trying to save her now. The maniacal doctor lifted his foot from the unrecognizable form that was Rouge's face and stepped back. A devilish smile made its way onto his face as he looked at the bloody pulp. Bones were scattered amongst the red stew that was Rouge's face, and a single eyeball remained unscathed for the other one was crushed beyond all recognition. Eggman had crushed her head so well that it was as if he had decapitated her. He smiled one more time at his work, before disappearing in a blur of motion, leaving a heartbroken echidna alone with a dead bat. Knuckles raced over to Rouge and picked up her body, even though it had no head. He sobbed as he hugged her limp body.

Minutes later, a blue streak of motion made its way to the echidna. It stopped, leaving a shocked Sonic the hedgehog to gaze upon the carnage that Eggman caused. His jaw dropped open in shock after seeing Rouge's decapitated body.

"I wasn't fast enough." sobbed Knuckles as he continued to cry over Rouge's dead and headless body.

"No Knuckles," said Sonic, making the echidna look at him. "I wasn't fast enough."

* * *

_I'm the fastest thing on the planet. I could run halfway across the world to save a women from a burning building and I can even carry a crippled man out from a war zone. But I'm wasn't fast enough to save my friend's life and she payed for it instead of me._

* * *

**This chapter took me some time because I had some people over at my house and it kind of ruined my focus.**


	9. Mental Breakdown

**Disclaimer: Sonic and co. © Sega **

**Reise © Blank the Nobody**

Chapter Eight

Mental Breakdown

1 Month, 24 Days and 6 Hours before Black Egg Armageddon

* * *

_Eggman has no limits to stop him from destroying me. He sacrificed his sanity for this power of his. After so many battles with him, I never thought I could drive him insane._

* * *

As the sun set on a shaken Station Square, a giddy Eggman walked into his laboratory. After accomplishing his mission, the doctor was filled with joy. Seeing the sorrow that boiled within Knuckles was a sight to behold for the brute. Sadness, anger, self-pity, ignorance, for some reason all of these attributes and emotions seemed to be a lot more entertaining to watch then they used to be for Eggman. Ever since injecting himself with the serum, everything seemed t be a lot more enjoyable. Killing, destroying, murdering, torturing, before, these would be the sort of things he would look down upon, for being a bit overboard when it came to being evil. Now however, mass murder and torture on the highest degree, was a hobby now.

Eggman gladly walked into his lab, instantly noticing the one thing that he had changed. No robots rushed to check his vital signs or ask if he needed any assistance whatsoever, since all of Eggman's robots were shut down. After torturing Tails a few days before, Eggman found that doing the work with his bare hands was much more entertaining and enjoyable then watching an emotionless robot do the work. So almost all of his mechanic helpers were deactivated. Robotnik walked into the laboratory as the lights automatically turned on at his presence. He walked up to a large monitor integrated into the wall and turned it on. It instantly changed to the news channel as reports of his attack was finally being reported to the world. A smile appeared on Eggman's face as he watched the cameraman zoom in on dead bodies that lay burnt on the ground, before cops swarmed in and stopped them.

"Having fun?" asked a familiar voice from behind Eggman.

The doctor swung around to find his assailant from before leaning against the steel wall of his laboratory. His nameless assailant was unchanged since their last encounter. A long black coat was present on the man and he still had a long black mustache. The only difference now however was the fact that Eggman had large muscles to defend himself with, if the assailant came to finish the job. Even if he did come to kill Eggman, he would have no chance. With Eggman's new muscles and self-esteem, the doctor felt as though he could take over the whole world.

"I most certainly am my dear assailant." said Eggman in a happy tone as he turned around and smiled. "In fact, I'm having a great time!" he continued.

The visitor took his weight off of the wall and walked up to Ivo, an impressed smile on his lips. "Good to hear my friend, but we have more work to do." said the man before turning his back on Eggman and walking toward another one of Ivo's workstations.

Only a couple days after attacking Eggman, this man just comes up and acts as his friend. Eggman eyed the black cloaked figure as he typed some things into the computer. Robotnik began to wonder what the cloaked figure's intentions were and now he would find out, even if he had to beat it out of the guy.

"Now hold on one second. A few days ago you try to kill me, and now you pretend as if it had never happened. What is it that you want from me? And who the bloody hell are you?" asked Eggman as he walked up to the man.

A low and menacing laugh escaped from the cloaked figure's lips as he stopped his typing. "First answer, I want to help you rule the world, Ivo." said the man as he turned around to face Eggman. "Second answer, just call me Reise."

An unusual name for a person, but definitely a more casual name then Ivo. His answer however, was a bit of weak in explanation. No one has ever wanted to really help Eggman rule the world. Every time he joined some sort f syndicate of grand evil villains, Eggman would be the pawn to be played or the actual leader. Neither of those roles ended well for Eggman, as the pawn he would be destroyed, and as the leader he would be the last to be destroyed. So none of the roles offered any positive attributes other than being the leader for a while. Instead of accusing Reise of lying, Eggman would play along and see where this road would take him. Even if Reise was going to go against him, Eggman could always take him down himself.

"Alright Reise, so what's your grand plan?" asked Eggman as he looked at the screen.

Symbols of DNA and elements from the periodic table appeared on the screen. Some were deleted and the others were combined together. A DNA helix appeared on the screen and it was doused with some sort of chemical causing it to change rapidly. Old files were being brought up of Eggman failed plans from before. Memories of his past flashed within Eggman's head as he recognized the symbols and equations. Riese was creating something and Eggman knew exactly what it was.

"We recreate the formula that made you into monster and we distribute it to the people, using them as our minions." said Reise with a smile.

It seemed like the perfect plan that would be fit for any evil villain. It would be like controlling some zombie hoard. This would be something new for Eggman since, he was used to controlling robots before. But some things were too good to be true and this plan had one major flaw in it.

"Good idea, but the formula is still unstable. My transformation being successful was purely . . . luck, as some might say." said Eggman, remembering the data reports from his test subjects from long ago.

Yet another laugh escaped from Reise's lips, as if this was a game. "Yes, I know, dementia, bloodlust, suicidal attempts, hysteria, delusions, all of the side effects of this so called super formula. But think about it Eggman, we don't need to fix it, we just need to control it." He said.

Eggman was starting to understand Reise's plan. Instead of making an obedient super soldier, they would create and control the most brutal and bloodthirsty monster. It was a genius plan that presented no flaws at the time. Creating beasts that would kill on command, instead of having some sort of emotionless robot. Together, Eggman and Reise would release some sort of virus that would infect the world and make the infected their slaves.

"How are we going to control them? Are we going to use a machine?" suggested Eggman, even though the thought of using a machine would be displeasing.

Reise chuckled at the word 'machine.' He knew that Eggman had a sudden dislike in machines after his transformation, so he wouldn't irritate him with the use of one. To Eggman, machines were starting to show a sign of weakness. Instead of fighting your own battles, the person would hide behind an army of machines. No more hiding for Eggman, he would win with real power this time.

"No Ivo, we will use something else. We just haven't found it yet. There's always another way and together, my friend, we will find it." said Reise.

More symbols and figures appeared on the screen as the typing continued. Eggman was starting to understand Reise's plan. No more machines, no more taunts at his weight, no more failure, Eggman would win this battle. He would win no matter what the cost was.

As the sun set, two menacing laughs filled the air, as the two genius's devised a new plan together.

* * *

_He still doesn't know how crazy he truly is yet. But sooner or later, he will._

* * *

**Okay, one OC. Just ONE, so far. **


	10. Don't Care

**Disclaimer: Sonic and co. © Sega**

**Reise © Blank the Nobody**

Chapter Nine

Don't Care

1 Month, 21 Days and 11 Hours before Black Egg Armageddon

* * *

_Only three days after Eggman's attack and everything was back to normal. But not everyone knew about Rouge's death. So it was up to me to bring the bad news._

* * *

No more then three days passed since Eggman's latest attack on Station Square, and everyone was starting to calm down. Everyone in town knew that Eggman wasn't likely to launch another attack on the town so soon, so they were at ease. Construction workers were busy reconstructing the torn up shops and some other people attended funerals for the deceased. At some points in time, the people of Station Square wondered what it would be like without the famous blue hero. They knew that destruction was less likely to come after them, but they did know that without Sonic or any of the Sonic Heroes, they would be open for an attack. It didn't matter anymore however, since the world would need every hero it has to battle the upcoming threat.

Rays of sunlight illuminated the streets below it, as the people walked along the sidewalks. Suddenly, a long blue streak of motions blazed through the streets. A gust of wind blew by as the blue streak passed, making some people look in awe as their blue hero made his way through the city. Knuckles was nowhere to be found after Rouge's death and Tails was already discharged from the hospital. Sonic was worried about Knuckles, but he pushed that thought aside as he hurried to find someone else. That someone would be the Black Blur.

Everyone knew that Rouge did love someone else other then Knuckles. Some say that Rouge would be a perfect match with the ebony hedgehog. Lots of rumors buzzed about after they saw the creation of Team Dark and lots of them still buzz about today. But with Rouge's death, how would Shadow feel? People know Shadow as the unfeeling, detached hedgehog, but did the rumors affect him? Did the black hedgehog have any feelings for Rouge? Only time would tell.

Sonic continued to race through the city, trying to find Shadow. Luckily for him, he knew where the ebony hedgehog would be that day. The cobalt hedgehog ran forward, even though a tall building was a couple miles in front of him. Sonic closed the gap between the building and himself, before running up the skyscrapers windows in order to get to the top. During some beautiful days, Shadow would perch himself atop some building to get a better view. Sonic reached the top of the building to find Shadow there, just like he expected him to be.

Shadow stood atop the building roof, as he stared at the people below with his icy glare. He didn't know that Rouge had died, and Sonic was starting to think that maybe he didn't care. Sonic slowly walked up behind Shadow, even though being sneaky wasn't one of Sonic's strong points.

"What do you want?" asked Shadow in a harsh tone, as he kept his back turned.

The same cold, uncaring attitude you would expect from Shadow. Everyday Sonic spent hanging around Shadow, he wondered how the ebony hedgehog acted when he was with Maria. Did that girl make the dark hedgehog kinder? Sonic would love to ask Shadow, but he knew that he would never get an answer from him.

Sonic chuckled at Shadow's stone cold attitude. "Good to see that the death of someone doesn't affect you." said Sonic in a nonchalant tone.

Shadow looked over his shoulder, the same angry look on his face. "What?" he asked, not understanding Sonic's statement.

The cobalt hedgehog smacked his hand right on top of his mouth, as if sealing it shut. "Sorry, I was a bit too early on that one." he said, before taking his hand away to reveal a somewhat cocky grin.

Shadow turned around and walked over to Sonic, the same ice cold stare piercing deep into Sonic's mind. After so long, the stare didn't scare Sonic anymore, and now it was the subject to some jokes. There was no time for jokes though. Now was a serious time for Sonic and the cobalt hedgehog didn't know what to do. The thought of not telling Shadow popped into his head, but not informing the black hedgehog would be bad and Sonic didn't want to have a guilty conscience.

"Whatever you want to tell me, just spit it out already." said Shadow with an irritated tone.

A saddened look quickly overtook Sonic's face, as the cobalt hero remembered the incident that had happened only a few days before. Sonic was never good at being the bearer of bad news, but seeing that he was the hero of Mobius, bad news came naturally to him.

"You know about Eggman's attack a couple days ago?" asked Sonic.

Shadow didn't look surprised at the question. "Of course I know about it. Why?" he asked in a stern tone.

"Do you know who died during the attack?" asked Sonic, instead of answering the question.

The question caused a confused look to come upon Shadow's face. This was a first for Sonic. Usually Shadow had an 'I don't care' look or an 'I hate you' look, but a confused look was new.

"No, who died?" asked Shadow, his tone finally turning into a curious one.

Sonic took in a deep breath and thought about what he was about to do. This was a tough time for him, but he knew what he had to do, even though telling a friend was hard.

"Rouge." answered Sonic.

* * *

_I never knew Shadow could be so heartless._

* * *

Shadow's face reverted to it's cold uncaring one, as if unaffected by the news.

"So?" asked Shadow, as if nothing was wrong.

His words bothered Sonic on a high level. Now he was sure that Shadow didn't care for anyone. Every person on Mobius thought of Shadow as some dark, mysterious, jerk, and they were right. Sonic thought that the so called Ultimate Lifeform had feelings for other people, even if it was small. No, Shadow is just the loner who acts on his own accord, not caring who he hurts.

Shadow turned his back on Sonic and walked back onto his perch to look onto the city as if nothing had happened. He didn't care about anyone other then himself. At times like these, Sonic would begin to wonder how Shadow would keep the promise he made with Maria. Maybe Shadow had forgotten it already, but that was highly unlikely.

An angry look took over Sonic's face as he furiously stomped over to Shadow. He wouldn't take Shadow's attitude anymore.

"So!? Is that all you have to say!?" asked Sonic furiously. "You're not going to say anything else!? Do you even care!?" yelled Sonic as he grabbed Shadow's shoulder and spun him around.

The black hedgehog snarled at the hero and pushed him backwards. "No, I don't care!" he yelled angrily.

Sonic skidded to a halt from Shadow's push and looked at the other hedgehog with a furious glare. "You don't care!? What the heck is wrong with you!?" yelled Sonic before running toward Shadow at full speed.

With anger fueling his every movements, Sonic rammed into Shadow, sending both of the hedgehog flying off of the building's roof and dropping toward the ground below. Sonic and Shadow exchanged a few rapid punches before letting go of each other so they could land on their feet. Shadow looked at Sonic with and irritated glare and Sonic glared back angrily. Sonic wouldn't believe that Shadow didn't care. After all this time, he had to care about something.

"How can you not care about anything!?" yelled Sonic before charging Shadow again.

Shadow braced himself for the attack. "Because I just don't." he said cruelly before Sonic smashed into him.

Sonic was curled into his Spin Dash position and was slowly starting to push Shadow backwards. The ebony hedgehog was getting irritated with Sonic's attack and curled into Spin Dash position as well. Now both of them were pushing each other. Dust was starting to be picked up into the air as the two continued to move each other. Some of the people around the two began to run away, while some other watched in amazement.

An extra boost of anger caused Sonic to increase his speed. With the sudden increase of speed and power, Shadow was thrown backwards. The ebony hedgehog smashed into a wall without breaking it. Pain struck Shadow's back like a dozen knives, the ebony hedgehog slowly slid off of the wall and on the ground. Shadow landed on his feet, as his back throbbed with pain. He could take the pain no matter what and he was determined to beat Sonic after the sudden outburst. Shadow stood straight up and looked at Sonic. He could see that the cobalt hedgehog was fuelled with anger, just like Knuckles on a rampage.

"What would Maria say?" asked Sonic angrily.

Nerves were agitated at the very use of the name. Shadow tensed up, his irritated look disappearing under a hate filled one. Only a select few knew about Maria, and everyone who knew about her, knew that Shadow loved her. The very use of her name in a negative way would cause Shadow to go on a killing frenzy. Sonic knew that, but he didn't care.

Shadow snarled at Sonic. "Don't you dare bring her into this conversation!" he yelled before teleporting with the use of Chaos Control.

As if on cue, Sonic jumped to the side, right before Shadow smashed down on the spot which he once occupied. The battle would be difficult since their speed levels were both the same, but Sonic would likes a good challenge. Before Sonic could hit the ground, he disappeared in a blur of movement.

Blue and black streaks of motion painted the sky as Sonic and Shadow rammed each other at high speeds. Civilians watched in awe as their hero fought against the anti-hero in an all out brawl of emotion. Every time they hit each other they released a small burst of punches in the small seconds they had before withdrawing again. After another strike, Sonic flipped in the air and landed on his feet while Shadow did the same.

Before the two of them could fly at each other again, a large G.U.N. tank rolled by behind Sonic. Following the tank was a large troop transport vehicle. Sonic looked at the large convoy of military units as it passed by. Somewhere in the distance, gunfire could be heard, followed by a loud horrifying roar. Sonic turned around to get a better look at the ongoing convoy.

"What the heck is going on?" Sonic asked, even though he knew he wouldn't get an answer from Shadow. Instead of waiting to find out, Sonic started to run after the convoy. Only a few steps into his run however, Sonic looked over his shoulder to see Shadow. "Are you coming, or do you not care enough?" he asked.

Shadow grinned at the question. "You're right, I don't care. I'm just curious." He said before running after Sonic.

Both of the hedgehogs chased after the convoy and eventually made it to their designated location. Once there, Sonic's jaw dropped in shock at the sight.

Huge claw marks covered every brick wall, blood spatter was on the ground and soldiers were somewhere in the distance shooting at something. Sonic ran over to the troops to see what they were shooting at. Sonic gazed upon some hunched Mobian as the soldiers shot at it. The Mobian was normal though, it had long claws covered in blood, spikes grew along its spinal column and it had bloodshot eyes. Bullets continued to burrow into the monster and finally it slumped on the ground and died. G.U.N. then left the body to go answer to a distress signal somewhere else. Sonic slowly walked over to the dead Mobian and looked at its body. He looked down at it and he could smell the scent of gunpowder and blood mixing with each other.

Before he could inspect the body, more gunfire sounded followed by a loud angry roar. Sonic turned around to see one soldier be torn apart by another rabid Mobian. Shadow charged the mob of monsters as the soldiers supported him with more gunfire. Whatever was happening, it wasn't good.

"What the hell happened here?" asked Sonic.


	11. First Hell Unleashed

**Disclaimer: Sonic and co. © Sega**

**Reise © Blank the Nobody**

Chapter Ten

First Hell Unleashed

1 Month, 21 Days and 12 Hours before Eggman Armageddon

1 Hour before the First Eggling Attack

1 Hour and 30 Minutes before Sonic shows up

Mike Lawso . . . Missing since . . . . Last seen . . .

Derek Espinoza . . . Missing since . . . Last seen . . .

Elliot Wackfod . . . Missing since . . . Last seen . . .

More and more posters describing the missing people were posted on every wall or post. Some posters drifted along, following the wind in an endless journey. People passed by the posters, not caring about the missing people. Most people don't care about this sort of thing. They just see the picture on the poster and leave as if nothing was wrong. The cruel reality was the fact that no one really did care other then the missing persons' family or friends. No one else would toss a penny into their bucket of pity at all. But there was still hope. Sometimes a select few with big enough hearts would come along and help with the search. Even if its help from a couple of idiots.

"Wow! That's a lot of people missing after three days!" said a small, hyperactive bee as he marveled at all of the posters.

As the bee looked over all of the posters, a tall green crocodile marched up behind him, with his earphones pounding with its large output of music. With the large croc's sudden appearance, a large shadow was suddenly cast over the bee, but he didn't mind. Both of them looked at the army of posters taped or stapled to the wall. A saddened look washed over the crocodile's face as he looked at the posters. People ranging from young to old were missing.

"No way this can be a coincidence." said the croc, as he glared at every poster.

Only two hours after Eggman killed Rouge, people started to disappear. Not just one by one, they started to disappear by large groups. No one took the situation seriously since the city was working on rebuilding the destroyed parts from Eggman's attack a few days before. The government was always to blind to see what was coming until it was too late. There was a plan being put in motion and a couple of detectives knew it.

"I know!" exclaimed the bee in a shocked yet playful tone. The bee turned to face the crocodile. "Come on Vector, let's go find Espio. Maybe he knows what's happening." said the bee before flying off.

Vector swung his body around and sighed, before running after Charmy. After all these years working with that bee, nothing has really changed. Charmy is Charmy, the hyperactive, never quiet, loud bee, that everyone has come to know and love. But some people have changed, mostly because of their jobs.

The Chaotix Detective Agency underwent some serious financial problems for a while, causing the team to cooperate with G.U.N. During that time, the team investigated murders, interrogated assassins, fought tougher foes, and much more. They solved more crimes then ever before, but everyone had some breaking point. After a while, Vector became a bit more serious when it came to working after seeing so many dead people and letting so many people down, Vector just couldn't give up. Espio got smarter on many levels and became physically stronger to stop whatever or whoever gets in his way. After their time with G.U.N. Team Chaotix earned enough funds to rebuild their agency and they finally departed from the military's brutal way of solving crimes. Now they were back to helping people and solving some crimes like finding stolen objects, helping other people and oddly enough finding missing people.

Aided by his sugar hype, Charmy made it back to the agency and over to Espio's redesigned room within minutes. Instead of knocking on the door like a normal person, the hyperactive bee just burst into Espio's room. The scent of exotic fruits and a warm sensation washed around Charmy. In the far corner of the room a group or Japanese incense sticks burned and a small string of smoke floated into the air from their burning tips. The walls were a light brown hue, matching its bamboo plant waterfall and the speakers hidden within the room played a soft koto tune. All in all, the room looked fit for a person solely built on meditating, fitting Espio's style exactly. In the middle of a room, sat a peaceful Espio, his legs crossed in front of him in a meditating pose like a Buddhist monk.

"Yo Espio! We've got lots of work to do!" yelled Charmy as he flew circles around Espio just to annoy him.

Charmy circled Espio a couple more times before Espio finally got up. With his quick ninja reflexes, Espio grabbed both of Charmy's wings with one hand and held him up. The bee yelped out in pain before the chameleon brought him up to eye level. Charmy stared deep into Espio's serious yellow eyes, making the kid's spine tingle in fear.

"Knock next time." Espio said simply, before releasing the bee's wings.

After being let go, Charmy fell on his butt with a thud, the bee then flew back up and followed Espio to the living room. A fresh stack of 'missing person' posters were piled onto the table. Yesterday there was only a handful of posters, now there was more of a trunk load.

"What the hell is going on?" Espio asked in a cold tone as he grabbed a handful of posters.

He quickly glanced through the photos, memorizing each face without even knowing it and put them down on the table. This job would probably get the team a lot of money, but right now that wasn't really the goal. Most people would know that Team Chaotix was more of a non-profit organization, seeing that Vector used every chance he had either spending it on music or giving it away to the needy.

"Eggman?" suggested Vector as he walked up to Espio.

Suggesting the main villain of every huge crisis ever to come to Mobius was obvious, but it didn't seem right. The doctor would never kidnap a massive amount of people. Most people found the doctor to be a bit squeamish and less sadistic then most villains, so he was out of the question.

"No, I don't think so. Eggman isn't that type of person who would actually experiment on people." said Espio before crossing his arms.

Vector leaned back against his wall, his hand rubbing his chin. "Who else can do this without making that much of a scene?" asked Vector, as he tried to come up with a list of names.

As hard as Vector tried, he couldn't come up with a reasonable list of names. So far, the team knew no one as smart or as sadistic. They were able to match Eggman with the intelligent part, but the fat man didn't fit the other part. Neither of them could come up with anything, only leading them to believe that it was either coincidence or there was a bigger picture that they weren't seeing.

"Maybe it really is Eggman." said Vector, giving up on trying to find another villain.

* * *

With the sun still high in the afternoon sky, people walked and chatted along the sidewalks of Station Square. All was normal yet again amongst the city's streets, even though the people there knew that it wouldn't stay that way for long.

Somewhere else in the city, within a dark and damp alley, a large semi-truck pulled up. The container that the truck was carrying was black and the sound of thuds could be heard from inside of it. That was only one truck though, scattered around Station Square, ten more identical trucks parked in locations around the Chatoix Detective Agency. The trucks within the city would provide a big enough distraction for Eggman. His objective this time, was different from what he had done before. At first, Eggman found his objective a bit harsh, but Reise was able to talk him into it. Besides, after this mission was over, both Eggman and Reise would get a good laugh after.

As the children played on the slides and monkey bars, and as the adults walked about, continuing their normal lives, monsters were hiding. Waiting until their time would come to finally quench their thirst for blood. Soon enough they would released and soon enough, more people would suffer.

"Where are we going to next, Mother?" asked a very young female rabbit as she tugged on her mother's dress.

Today was the day that young Cream, went grocery shopping with her mother, Vanilla. They were only two steps out of the store, plastic grocery bags in hand. Cream was wearing her normal vermillion dress, and shoes; her ears swaying a bit in the slight breeze that fluttered about. Vanilla was wearing her casual purple and crimson dress, and red shoes. As she stared at her mom, a cerulean chao landed atop her shoulder. Cheese was there that evening as well; happy as ever to be with his best friend.

"We're going to drop by the Chatoix Detective Agency, just to say hi." said Vanilla in her soft, gentle tone.

Much like Rouge and Knuckles' relationship, Ms. Vanilla and Vector hid their feelings from each other. Even though Vector was more of an oaf then Knuckles, he was a bit more outgoing. He would act more like a gentlemen towards Vanilla, other then denying his love and acting like a jerk like Knuckles. What made this love even more interesting was the fact they that knew about it, they just never really confessed it to each other in public.

"Yay! I get to see Charmy!" exclaimed Cream in a happy tone.

Both the rabbit and the chao celebrated at the news. Like any other child, they all had friends, as for Cream and Cheese, their friend Charmy was the best. Even though that bee was prone to get into trouble they didn't mind it at all. It was all for the sake of fun, even though Cream didn't follow Charmy in his insane, sugar fueled stunts. Sometimes Cream would just sit back and watch the bee perform some crazy stunt, and when Tails is around, she would just hang out with him.

Fifteen minutes passed as they walked towards the agency. They approached the front door and Vanilla knocked. No one answered the door at first, making Vanilla feel a bit uneasy for some odd reason. The adult rabbit took hold of the door knob and turned it luckily it was unlocked. She swung the door open and took a step inside, Cream and Cheese hiding behind her in case anything bad would happen.

"Hello? Vector, are you here?" asked Vanilla as she stepped into the agency that seemed darker then usual.

No answer came from the dark corners of the building. For most people, they would've left immediately and called the cops. Not for Vanilla, something was drawing her in without her even knowing it, and she continued to walk into the agency. Cream tugged on her mother's dress, hoping she would stop.

"Maybe they're not home." said Cream, her words falling on deaf ears.

Even Cheese could tell something wasn't right, as he pulled on Vanilla's dress as well. The adult rabbit took another step forward, not fearing whatever was ahead of her. As she did, a small shadowy figure crept up behind the three without either of them noticing. A glint flashed off the creature's teeth as it smiled evilly. In a split second, the creature pounced, grabbing onto Cream and pulling her onto the ground, making the rabbit drop the grocery bags she was holding.

"Yay! You came to visit!" yelled an excited Charmy as he hugged Cream even though they were on the ground.

As Charmy continued to play with Cream on the floor, a bumbling green crocodile stumbled into the room, an angry look on his face.

"What happening? Who's ther-" Vector stopped mid-sentence at the sight of Vanilla. "Ms. Vanilla, I didn't know you were coming." He said, his voice already eased into a calmer tone.

Seeing her friends, Vanilla started to calm down. Seconds before she was about to tear things apart in order to find them, but finally seeing her lover, made that fear and aggression go away, like magic.

Surprising to most people, if Vanilla ever sensed something bad, she would get very defensive, since she is a mother. She had to make sure she could defend her child no matter what would happen and not just run away. Living in a world where heroes live and where villains come up with plans to destroy the world, of course she had to figure out some form of self defense. Not just for her sake, but for the sake of her daughter as well.

"Sorry Vector, I just wanted to drop by and see how everyone is doing." said Vanilla curtly as she walked up to the croc.

Charmy helped Cream back onto her feet and they both could see that the croc and the rabbit were a bit too close to each other. The bee giggled at the sight, knowing of Vector's crush on Ms. Vanilla, he then took Cream and Cheese into another room so they could play, leaving Vector and Vanilla alone.

This was actually their first time seeing each other after Team Chaotix got out of G.U.N. which was why Charmy was so excited to see Cream. During their time with G.U.N. Vector did manage to send Vanilla some letters, describing every heart breaking, creepy, and demented moment of his time with the military. Every time Vanilla read those letters, she cried almost every time. The pain, the sorrow, the stress that Vector had to go through was heart breaking for her, but she was glad that he made it out okay and almost unchanged.

"Good to see you again." said Vanilla as she gave the crocodile a big hug.

"Did you get the letters I sent you?" asked Vector, returning the hug.

Vanilla chuckled at the question. "Don't remind me." She stated, causing both of them to laugh.

Both Vector and Vanilla talked to each other while Charmy, Cream and Cheese played in the other room and espio left to do some investigating of his own. Another couple of minutes passed by as Vector chatted with Vanilla about his experience in G.U.N. A couple of laughs were shared between the two and even some tears, but they were happy to see each other and that was all that mattered.

In another room, the kids continued to play. Charmy jumped from chair to chair, imitating the sound of a plane. Cream copied him, as Cheese flew after them, a smile on all of their faces. The bee over-jumped the chair and accidently slammed into the window. The young bee slid off the glass and landed on his butt. Cream rushed to his side and helped him up to his feet like a good friend.

"Are you okay?" asked Cream, as Cheese landed on her shoulder.

Charmy blushed before answering. "Yeah, I'm okay, I do that a lot anyway." He answered.

Before continuing to play, something caught Charmy's eye and the bee looked out the window. Outside parked in the middle of the road, a large black semi truck stood. Loud honking could be heard as others cars tried to pass it, but failed. People were getting out of their cars to yell at the driver, but no one could see through the truck's pitch black windows. Charmy raised an eyebrow at the scene as Cream joined him to see what he was looking at. Charmy noticed that the truck was hefting a large container, larger then normal truck cargo, but Charmy thought that it was only a coincidence.

"What's going on?" asked Cream as she inspected the truck.

"Dunno." answered Charmy plainly before rushing out of the room.

Cream raced after Charmy, a nervous look on her face, even though she's been in similar situations. "Where are you going?" she asked as she chased after Charmy.

"I'm gonna go tell Vector, maybe he knows what's happening." said Charmy without looking back.

Charmy finally made it to Vector and Vanilla and instantly interrupted their conversation.

"There's something weird going on outside!" The bee yelled loudly.

Vector got up, obviously annoyed by Charmy's lack of manners. He did get used to it though, since Charmy only bothered him when something important was happening. Instead of yelling at Charmy at how rude he was being, loud honking filled the air. He look out the window to see what the ruckus was all about. Outside he could see that a crowd of people were starting to gather. The people were yelling at a large semi-truck blocking the road with its large cargo.

"The hell-" Vector cursed before racing out the front door, Vanilla, Cream, Charmy and Cheese followed him. Before reaching the front door, Vector looked at Vanilla. "In case anything really bad happens, I have the number of my old G.U.N. commander on table. Don't hesitate to call him if things go bad." He said. Vanilla nodded in acknowledgment before Vector turned the knob on the front door.

Once outside, Vector plowed through the crowd and made his way to the truck. Seconds before he could go up to the window of the truck and break it, a purple scaled arm stopped him. Vector jumped back in surprise as Espio suddenly appeared in front of him. Like always, Espio wore his calm expression as he stared at the truck.

"Why'd you stop me? You know the driver or something?" yelled Vector in an irritated tone.

"What driver? There's no one in there." answered Espio, without turning to face Vector.

Almost all of the people stopped their yelling after hearing what Espio had said. Some of them scoffed at the statement.

"Yeah right, I saw this thing park here and I haven't seen anyone get out." said a random civilian, from within the crowd.

"That's because there was no one in there when it got here." said Espio calmly, his eyes still set on the truck.

Before anyone could say another word, a loud hissing noise could be heard coming from the truck, causing most of the people to step backwards. Espio stood his ground though, he wasn't afraid. The hissing could be heard from the back of the cargo container that the truck was transporting. Clicking and clanking joined in as the door unlocked itself. Loud hydraulic pistons continued to hiss as they slowly opened the double doors, releasing whatever was inside of the container.

All around Station Square, the identical trucks did the same, unleashing the hell that lived within its steel walls.

Seconds later, a dozen loud gut wrenching roars filled the air, causing the people to clasp their hands over their ears in pain. Car windows shattered at the loud roaring, showering the people in tiny glass shards and some people fell on their knees in pain. Once the roaring was over, a large group of crude, feral monsters suddenly poured out of the container, rushing out to feast on the weak. One of the monsters tried to jump onto Espio first, but the chameleon was fast and he jumped backwards to avoid the attack. That was when he finally got his first glimpse at the monsters.

They were all a variety of races, cats, dogs, other hedgehogs, and so on, but they all did have matching qualities. Each of the monsters had long, jagged claws that jutted out from their fingers, which aided them when they would tear a person apart for their feast. Long, jagged fangs gleamed in the sunlight, with drool covering all of them and sharp bone-like spines protruded out of their elbows. Espio stared into its bloodshot eyes and he could tell that there was no hop in trying to bring them back from their feral state.

Screaming and yelling surrounded Espio and Vector as they were surrounded with the carnage that the monsters brought. Vanilla had already brought the kids inside of the agency so they would have protection, leaving the two to fight. Blood was spilt, as one of the monsters dug its long claws though the abdomen of a civilian and furiously withdrew it, leaving a huge hole in the Mobian's chest. Espio did a back-flip and threw three ninja stars at the monster in front of him. The steel stars dug into the monster's chest, but it didn't affect it at all, making a shocked expression wash over Espio's face. Vector on the other hand, grabbed a stop sign and tore it out of the ground. The croc used it as a bat to defend himself, slamming the red octagonal plate into the face of one monster, sending it flying to the side. To his surprise however, the monster got back up and was ready to fight once more. Both Espio and Vector were astonished with the monsters' incredible strength and endurance, but they still had to survive no matter what.

"We need to call for help now!" yelled Espio over the angry roars of the creatures.

"Don't worry, I told Vanilla to call G.U.N. in case anything bad would happen." answered Vector, as he slammed the sign into another creature's face.

"Let's just hope that they get here in time." said Espio as he blocked an attack with a dagger.

* * *

_Eggman is really starting to make me sick._

* * *

**Sorry for taking so long. FYI, this is a hobby, not my job, so don't complain. **

**So I decided to add some background to Team Chaotix, making the work for G.U.N. I'm sorry if the idea doesn't appeal to you, but I did it anyway. I made Cream's mother a bit more outgoing then what most people would think, besides, if you were a mother living in a world where fat genius's were trying to rule the world, wouldn't you want to learn how to defend yourself. (No, she's not some Kung Fu master, she just knows the basics.) As for the beginning, I did not add the first italicized part, because I couldn't come up with a snappy line to start off the story, so I put it at the end to finish the chapter.**


	12. Survival of the Fittest

**Disclaimer: Sonic and co. © Sega**

**Reise and Egglings © Blank the Nobody**

Chapter Eleven

Survival of the Fittest

1 Month, 21 Day and 11 Hours before Black Egg Armageddon

30 Minutes before Sonic shows up

* * *

_There's no hope in trying to help these people from the monsters that they've become. Besides, monsters are prone to make more monsters._

* * *

Loud police sirens wailed in the air as cop cars started to make their way to the break out points. Vector and Espio continued to fight for survival, but quickly found that the monsters were tough to kill. The two didn't care though, they only cared for the well-being of those around them, including the people still hiding within their agency. Vanilla rapidly locked the doors and windows and ran over to the kitchen area. Small beads of sweat were starting to run down her forehead, as she thought of Vector getting hurt. She shook the thought away, for she knew that she still had work to do.

Vanilla quickly scanned the kitchen table, trying to find the phone number that Vector told her to call. There, on the side of the table, a small rectangular calling card lay face down. The adult rabbit quickly grabbed the calling card and read the number. After memorizing it, she threw down to the ground and grabbed the phone which was on the counter next to her. She quickly dialed the number and waited for her call to be answered. While she was doing this, Charmy, Cream and Cheese were still in the living room trying to calm down after what they had just seen. Seconds before they had just witnessed a group of innocent people be torn into a bloody mess by a group of monsters, their screams of agony would forever haunt the children's dreams.

After thirty seconds of constant ringing, someone finally picked up the phone on the other line. "This is Captain Dacote." greeted a male voice.

Her instinct just took over, flooding out all of her manners just for the sake of surviving. "We need help over here! People are dying!" she yelled though the phone.

There was a slight thud on the other side of the phone, as if the man speaking to her had fallen out of his chair at the yelling. "Who is this? How'd you get this number?" asked the so-called captain.

"Vector! Vector gave it to me!' she yelled frantically, trying to skip the normal chatter.

"Vector eh? Okay, what's the problem?" asked Captain Dacote, in a nonchalant tone.

"People are dying! Monsters are killing everyone and Vector and Espio have their hands full!" she yelled in an irritated yet frantic tone.

Even with all of her yelling, the man other the other line didn't seem at all scared or shocked. Instead, he acted as though he had been through this before. "Alright, alright, if Vector told you to call then this number then it has to be important. I'm sending a strike team, ETA 10 minutes." said the captain before hanging up.

If the captain didn't sound any more nonchalant, Vanilla would've thought that he was only joking. But instead of thinking about the captain, or trying to decipher what ETA stands for, she had to get the kids out of there. Vanilla put the phone back on its stand and rushed over to the living room to get the kids. Without answering any of the kids' questions, she grabbed Charmy and Cream's hands and rushed out the backdoor, knowing that Cheese would fly after them no matter what.

"Where are we going? Are we just going to leave Espio and Vector behind?" asked Cream, as she fought the urge to cry.

"We need to find somewhere safe to hide, dear." answered Vanilla in an urgent tone as she ran through the city's sidewalks.

Behind them, the sound of pistol fire was heard as the cops arrived at the scene only to be greeted by blood and gore. Screaming and yelling filled the air as people either ran for their lives or died where they stood. Vanilla knew that if she looked back to see the destruction, the scenes would haunt her eternally. So she kept running and running, with three children in hand. At times like this, she wished she was as fast as Sonic.

Instead of watching the horror going on behind her, she was subjected to watch the ones happening in front of her. Even though most of the monsters were busy fighting Espio and Vector, there were still more in the city, butchering every living thing they saw. Across the street from the fleeing group, a monster jumped from the edge of a building and landed on a Mobian, tearing it to shreds with its jagged claws. On the streets, cars sped to get away from the carnage, one car had three monsters on top of it, causing the car to swerve out of control and crash into a street light. She still had to move forward, no matter what was happening, she still had to protect those dearest to her.

Vanilla could feel that Cream's legs were starting to freeze up in fear. The adult rabbit looked over her shoulder to see her terrified daughter gazing at the horror behind them. There was nothing she could do to miraculously erase those scenes from Cream's head, so Vanilla only hoped that this wouldn't affect her daughter. When she looked over at Charmy however, she found that the bee was just as scared. The boy was shivering in fear, knowing that he had just left his comrades behind. Vanilla took her eyes off of the kids to look forward, only to find that pushing on was a bit harder then it seemed.

Up ahead seemed more dangerous then going back. People ran through the streets screaming and calling for help, as a roving gang of monsters chased after them. Vanilla watched as one of the fleeing civilians tripped on the curb and get stabbed in the stomach by three monsters before finally being devoured. After finishing their feast, the group of monsters continued their hunt, without spotting Vanilla and her group. The adult rabbit was thankful that they didn't find her and she continued to run for the alleyway in front of them.

Before she could take another step, an injured Mobian limped onto the street. The civilian was covered with bruises and cuts and in his hand was his severed left arm. Vanilla watched as the man called for her help, but she was frozen in terror. She wanted to help that man, but she didn't know how much time it would take. Finally, Vanilla decided to help the man, even though the scent of blood would only lead the monsters to them. Seconds before Vanilla could rush to aid the injured man, a loud horn sounded and the Mobian was run down by a flaming bus. Vanilla stood there in shock, her one ochance of helping someone else, gone with the wind.

"Mother, can we please go now?" asked Cream as small tears streamed from her face from the sight.

No reply came from Vanilla, she was still scared. Never in her life has she seen this much carnage. No one could blame her though, it was like finally witnessing the apocalypse.

Charmy tugged on her dress, finally snapping her out of her little trance. "Ms. Vanilla, we need to find Sonic." said the bee, his sugar hype working against him and instead fuelling his fear.

He was right, only the planet's greatest hero can fix this. Vanilla looked across the street to make sure that no more out-of-control cars were around and once the streets were cleared she took the kids across the street and into the alleyway. Sonic could be anywhere, but for some odd reason, she knew that the famous blue hero would be around to save the day. The alleyway split into two directions, but instead of thinking over which one to take, Vanilla just took the one on the left.

The smell of blood mixed in with the stinky smell of garbage that radiated from the dumpsters as Vanilla ran. Loud pops and clacking noises filled the air as local gang members burst into the fight to protect themselves with their illegal weaponry. Even the rapid fire automatic rifles could stop the screaming and the battle continued. Somewhere in Vanilla's mind, she hoped that this was some nightmare, but the other half of her brain said that this was definitely real. Dream or not, she still had to survive and keep her daughter safe no matter what. She rounded around another corner to find a something that she thought she would never see.

At the end of the alley, a squad of G.U.N. soldiers were being dropped off to aid a group of cops. Once all of the soldiers were out of their transport vehicle, they lined up behind the group of cops and opened fire on the creatures trying to tackle them. Rapid gun fire filled the air as the soldiers easily filled the creature with lead, making it flop onto the ground with a bloody squelch. Most of the soldiers lowered the guns, as if knowing that the creature wouldn't get back up. Before they could even turn around to go call for more back up, a low growl emanated from the so-called dead monster. All of the guns were positioned on the monster again as it slowly got back onto its feet and shook off the pain.

"What the hell." stated one of the soldiers in a hesitant voice as he watched the monster almost fully recover from its bullet wounds.

"Open fire!" yelled the superior officer before the line of cops and soldiers was lit up with gunfire.

Bullet flew through the air but none of them hit the monster as it easily dodged all of the bullets and continued to charge the line of law enforcers. With its muscle filled legs, the beast leapt toward them and grabbed one of the cops by the shoulders. Once the creature hit the ground, he swung his clawed arms at the cop, tearing the law enforcer's face into shreds before a single bullet penetrated through the creature's skull. This time the monster was dead as it landed on its side like a ragdoll. Other cops rushed to their fallen comrade as the soldiers raced back to their vehicle to notify their superior. Finally, a safe place for Vanilla and her child. The rabbit ran toward the soldiers, Cream, Charmy and Cheese following behind her. Only a few feet away from the group, one soldier noticed them and ran to aid her.

"Finally, a civilian." said the soldier as he ran up to Vanilla. "What happened here? What are these monsters?" asked the young soldier.

Vanilla answered all of the questions, giving the army an idea of what they're dealing with. After answering all of the soldier's questions, she and the children were lead into the truck and were driven to the safety zone that the military established minutes before. They were not the only ones to get into the transport however, as the soldiers also piled into the truck. Traveling now would be much easier, since the truck did have a turret integrated into it, making it combat wise as well.

Cream nuzzled up next Charmy as they underwent a bumpy ride to the safety zone. Occasionally, the truck would stop so the gunner would assist some civilians trying to flee from the beasts or to destroy some obstructing monsters in their way. Vanilla was at ease though, at least she had some strong, armed men around her to protect her if anything bad would happen. The adult rabbit looked over to her daughter to find that she was still shaking with fear with Cheese in her lap. Vanilla was also kind of surprised to see Charmy sitting next to Cream, giving the young rabbit a reassuring hug to make her feel better.

The truck halted in its tracks and the sound of the gun turret went off again as it cut down another mob of monsters with ease. After the gun fire stopped, the squad leader went up front to talk to the driver. After a little quarrel with the driver, the squad leader and the soldiers got out of the transport vehicle, leaving Vanilla, Cream, Cheese and Charmy within its hard steel walls. The soldiers began to march out into an alleyway and shoot at another monster that just appeared out of the shadows.

Apparently, the soldiers were clearing the way for the transport vehicle to go through, but it looked much harder then it seems since the monster seem to be almost invulnerable against low caliber bullets. After taking out the first monster, the squad moved on to clear out the rest of the alleyway. Vanilla watched from one of the trucks bulletproof windows as the last soldier vanished around the corner. Before Vanilla could take her eyes away from the window, a blue blur ran up to the dead monster. To her surprise it was the exact person she was looking for, Sonic the hedgehog. Vanilla got out of her seat and went over to the driver's area.

**Back to Normal Time**

"Lower the ramp, I need to get out." she said, with a gentle tone.

Thankfully, the driver was nice enough to lower the ramp for Vanilla and the adult rabbit walked out of the truck.

"Where are you going Ms. Vanilla?" asked Charmy, as Vanilla took one step out the truck.

If she told them that Sonic was outside, they would definitely want to come with her. Vanilla didn't want that though, she wanted the kids to stay in the truck to be safe so she had to lie to them.

"Oh, I just want to get some fresh air, is all." she said, before finally getting out of the truck.

Vanilla ran over to Sonic, who still hadn't seen her yet.

"Sonic! Over here!" she yelled, finally making the hedgehog look up at her.

Once the hedgehog finally saw Vanilla, he ran over to her in the blink of an eye. Vanilla was relieved to finally see him, since Espio and Vector were somewhere else in the city still fighting monsters. One glance at Sonic and the adult rabbit could tell that something was wrong. She could somehow sense that the hedgehog was distressed about something other then the monsters attacking the city. She could easily start a conversation about Sonic's emotional rut, but there were more important things at hand.

"What's going on? What are these things?" asked Sonic as he kicked the dead monster.

"I don't know. One minute I'm having a pleasant talk with Vector, the next, these monsters come bursting out of some truck." She answered, without elevating her voice into a loud, or stuttering one.

Before Sonic could ask another question, two screams of terror came from behind Vanilla. The mother turned around to find that armored truck was being attacked by three monsters. Cream and Charmy's screams could be heard from all the way down the alley, making Vanilla run toward the truck even though she had no way of defeating the monsters. A blue streak of motion passed Ms. Vanilla as she ran, and Sonic jumped into the air, already curled into his Spin Dash position.

In a matter of seconds, Sonic bounced off of all three of the monsters causing them to fly backwards from the attack. Sonic then gracefully landed on his feet and smirked at the site of the fallen monsters. To him, everything was easy when it came to fighting, not anymore though. A low growl erupted from the fallen creatures as they all got back to their feet and shook the pain off. Sonic's cocky grin was wiped from his face as he watched the monsters come back to full fighting capability right before his eyes.

Sonic was frozen where he stood, as the creatures slowly walked toward him with a low growl. He knew these people, not closely, but he recognized them. The 'missing person' posters, that's where he saw them before. These grotesque creatures were once normal people to walk the streets of Station Square. Now they were turned into blood thirsty beasts with no remorse. Eggman was responsible for this, Sonic was sure of it. But why go to such lengths? Why turn into some psychotic villain after all these years of being a redundant evil genius? Maybe Sonic finally picked at that man's last nerve. Does that make all of this Sonic's fault?

"Sonic watch out!" yelled Ms. Vanilla from behind, snapping Sonic out of his little trance.

A loud roar filled the air as one of the monster's leapt toward our hero, with its claws facing outwards. Instead of burrowing into Sonic's body, the claws hit nothing but air, as Sonic dodged the attack with his super speed. Sonic faced the pack of creatures with determined eyes. He wouldn't go down without a fight, no matter what. The monsters charged Sonic at the same time, intent on tearing the hedgehog into pieces.

"Get off me you infernal creatures! I created you and I can destroy you!" yelled a familiar voice in the distance.

Before the monsters could unleash their attacks upon Sonic a large, bulking mass burst through the right wall of the alley. The huge brute held one smaller monster in its hand before throwing it to the side. A shocked expression swept upon Vanilla and Sonic's faces as they identified the figure as Doctor Eggman. The large doctor wore a tight pair of black pants, but wore no shirt, revealing his tight muscle packed body. Eggman looked to his right to find a shocked Sonic and a smile crept onto Eggman's face.

"Sonic! Great to see you again! I wish I had the time to chat, but I'm looking for someone." said the doctor happily before setting his eyes on the troop transport that held Charmy, Cream and Cheese. "Never mind, I the person I was looking for."

* * *

_Monsters make monsters and sometimes . . . the creator can't control the created._


	13. No Mercy, No Remorse

**Disclaimer: Sonic and co. © Sega**

**Reise and Egglings © Blank the Nobody**

Chapter Twelve

No Mercy, No Remorse

1 Month, 21 Days and 10 Hours before Black Egg Armageddon

* * *

_Shadow is the one person that will fight with everything he's got. There's no mercy and no remorse for him. I just hope that won't be his downfall in the future._

* * *

Sonic looked at the cheerful Eggman with mixed emotions. In the hedgehog's head, he was trying to decide whether he should attack the man or take the children and leave. Tension was starting to build now as the sound of more monsters rose up into the air, signaling that there were more coming and shortening Sonic's time to think. Eggman turned to face the direction where the roars came from and the smile was wiped from his face. Even the doctor knew what power that these creatures possessed and he knew that it would be wise to stay out of their way. The doctor then turned his attention back onto Sonic and gave the hedgehog a grave look.

"I wish I had more time to explain to you, but we need to get out of here before the Egglings arrive." said Eggman before a cacophony of gun fire and roaring filled the air.

Vanilla and Sonic looked at each other, trying to read each other's expressions to figure out a plan. Neither of them could come up with a good plan, leaving them standing next to a large psychotic doctor. As they continued to devise more flawed plans, they totally forgot about the three creatures sneaking up behind Sonic, leaving the hedgehog open to an attack. Eggman turned his head to face Sonic, but he instantly saw the approaching Egglings. Instead of letting the three monsters take their prize, Eggman ran toward Sonic and pushed him aside before ramming into the trio. The doctor grabbed two of the monsters in both hands and smashed the other with his foot with a bloody squelch. Eggman then took the two other Egglings and threw them far off into the horizon, before watching them disappear into the sky. The Blue Blur was astonished by Eggman's sudden act of heroism. But even though the doctor had just saved him, the question remained, why did he save him?

Before Sonic could ask, Eggman turned around and smiled. "Don't take this the wrong way, I only did that because you're my nemesis and no one else can kill you except for me." He said, answering the unspoken question.

Eggman then turned his attention onto the giant, steel truck that held the kids. The smile widened on the doctor's face, knowing that the person he was looking for was inside of it. Sonic didn't like the psychopathic look at all, and he knew that the doctor was trying to take one of the kids. Eggman took a step toward the truck, his smile glinting in the strong sunlight from above. After that one step a gust of wind blew by as Sonic ran in front of him to obstruct his path. There was a stern look on Sonic's face, yet deep inside he was scared.

"What are you doing here Eggman?" asked Sonic in a serious tone, as he stood his ground in front of Eggman.

The doctor chuckled at the question, knowing that his answer would make the hedgehog have to fight him. Even with that knowledge, Eggman gave out the answer as if nothing was wrong. "I'm here to take Cream." said the doctor blatantly, making both Sonic and Vanilla's jaws drop in shock.

The words made Sonic stand there, with a shocked expression as he imagined what horrors Eggman held for Cream. This was something that he could not allow though. No matter what, Sonic would keep the young rabbit safe. With a determined look, Sonic ran up to the driver's side of the truck and looked at the scared driver. The frightened driver looked at Sonic with a confused and scared look before Sonic gave him some orders.

"Your top priority is to protect the little girl in your truck. Drive through the alley, I'll protect the truck." said Sonic in a grave tone, before the driver gave a scared nod.

The engine roared to life before the truck took off into the alleyway, leaving Vanilla, Sonic and Eggman alone with each other. The doctor gave out an amused chuckle at Sonic's defiance, but he knew one way or another he would get his hands on Cream.

"I admire you valiant efforts Sonic, but do you really think that running away would help?" asked the doctor in a careless tone, as he crossed his arms.

Sonic smirked smugly. "Of course, besides, running is what I'm good at." said Sonic before running up to Ms. Vanilla and picking her up in both arm.

Eggman raised an eyebrow at the sight, finding Sonic's actions a bit less heroic then what he thought they would be. The doctor then caught a flash of Sonic's trademark grin before the hedgehog disappeared in a blur of motion. Eggman laughed at the sight, knowing that a good run would be a great warm-up before the actual fight. Ivo uncrossed his arms and traced Sonic's movements so could tell where he would be going. Then in a matter of seconds, it was like Eggman disappeared.

X

Unlike Sonic, Shadow was beting a bit more productive. Using the weaponry skills and military techniques that he learned during the Black Arms Invasion, Shadow barked orders out to the G.U.N. soldiers as he fired a P90 machine gun into a horde of monsters that were trying to charge him. Like well trained dogs, the soldiers followed his every command and for a brief second, Shadow felt powerful ruling over the soldiers as if they were slaves. But instead of letting the military power take control of him, Shadow focused on destroying the Egglings. He aimed steadily before gently squeezing the trigger of his gun. The bullet erupted from the barrel of Shadow's gun and soared through the air, piercing through the skull of a charging Eggling. The entire back of part of the Eggling' skull was blown out as the bullet rammed through its brain, sending blood chunks flying backwards into the horde.

"We can't stay here much longer! We have to fall back!" yelled a young soldier in a nervous tone.

Shadow cringed at the soldiers lack of courage. He wouldn't back down though, Shadow would never abandon his post. Instead of barking out another order to the frightened soldiers, Shadow stood his ground as the group of soldiers slowly started to retreat. The black hedgehog continued to fire at the mob that was starting to slowly close in on him, but he wasn't afraid. After another trio of shots burst out from the automatic weapon, the sound of clicking came from Shadow's gun. His gun ran out of bullets, but he wasn't worried, since he still had his speed and strength. Shadow cast the weapon aside and watched as the Egglings charged at him. One of them ran toward him ready to swing a clawed arm at him, but before its bloodstained claws could even touch a single strand of fur on the hedgehog's face, Shadow disappeared.

With its weight already pressing downwards, the Eggling fell flat on its face, surprised that he didn't slice anything. The enraged Eggling got back to its feet as its brothers joined him to search for Shadow. They all sniffed the air eagerly, trying to trace the ebony hedgehog's scent, but couldn't find it. Before the group of creatures could disperse, they noticed what seemed to be a small green fruit on the ground. One of the Egglings bent down and grabbed it only to find that it was a grenade. What intrigued them the most was the fact that it didn't have its pin.

BOOOOOOOOMMM!!!

All three of the Egglings were engulfed in a giant explosion. So much shrapnel burrowed into the bodies of the creatures that they died instantly, leaving Shadow with three more kills on his head. Shadow stood atop the rooftops, gazing down on the creatures that he had just killed. His serious frown adorned his face as he looked behind him to see two military helicopters fly over his head. Before he could go follow the choppers, the sound of a car braking harshly filled the air. Shadow looked to his left to see a large armored truck stop in front of destroyed cars that blocked its path. Seconds later a blue blur caught up to the truck, revealing Shadow's rival.

Sonic stopped in behind the truck so he could put down a nauseated Ms. Vanilla. Apparently the adult rabbit wasn't used to handling Sonic's speed after such a long time. Vanilla woozily got back to her feet as Sonic looked over his shoulder, as if checking for any enemies that were following him. Even from his high point of view, Shadow could see the tiny sweat droplets starting to fall off of his blue rival's face and for some odd reason, Shadow could sense the fear and hesitation that radiated from Sonic and he could tell that something bad was coming his way. After finally deciding to help Sonic, Shadow instantly ran down from his rooftop perch and made his way over to him.

"Shadow! Man, am I glad to see you!" yelled Sonic in a relieved tone as he ran over to the dark hedgehog.

"What's going on?" asked Shadow in a serious tone that suited his equally serious glare.

Without a moment of hesitation Sonic burst out with his answers. "We need to get out of here! Eggman is trying to kidnap Cream but we lost him! Vector and Espio are still out there fighting these things called Egglings! And-"

Before Sonic could yell out another fear induced sentence, Shadow slapped his hand over the blue hero's mouth, instantly shutting him up. Shadow took a second to recover from Sonic's frantic yelling before removing his hand from Sonic's mouth.

Shadow exhaled a frustrated sigh before continuing. "Slow down and start from the beginning." said Shadow in a calm tone.

Instead of getting another fear induced answer, Sonic only looked past Shadow with his mouth gawking open in shock. Before Shadow could turn around to see what Sonic was looking at, his blue rival grabbed him and pulled him to the side as a flaming car smashed down onto the space that they were occupying before. The car tumbled forward and exploded, sending a flaming piece of shrapnel through the brain of the truck driver. Shadow jumped back onto his feet, the flames from the car barely licking his fur. A couple yards down the road stood a smiling Eggman, who was busy cracking his knuckles in preparation for a fight.

"To be brutally honest Shadow, I really wanted that flaming car to smash into you. But you're just too smart for that now aren't you?" asked the doctor playfully as he began to walk towards the two hedgehogs.

This was the first time Shadow saw Eggman in his new form, and for some reason Shadow felt a weird sensation come over him. It was something that he had never felt before, and he couldn't find a name for it. The ebony hedgehog's knees started to shake, but he maintained his posture and shook the sensation away.A low chuckle eruped from Eggman as he strode toward the proud and unbreakable hedgehog.

"What's so funny?" asked Shadow, still using his serious tone.

Eggman continued to chuckle even as he answered the serious hedgehog's question. "You are, Shadow. You feel a weird sensation though, don't you?" asked Eggman, surprising Shadow for a second.

Did the doctor use some mind reading device to get into Shadow's head? Or was it something else? Shadow stared at Eggman with great interest, wondering why he was able to predict his state of mind. But even with that in his head, Shadow continued to stand strong.

"I know what it is that you're feeling." said Eggman in a mysterious tone as he stopped a couple yards away from Shadow.

The same psychotic smile spread across Eggman's face as he glared at Shadow. In a matter of seconds, the same sensation filled Shadow yet again. Sweat started to form along the ebony hedgehog's forehead and he felt a weird tingling sensation in his stomach. For some odd reason, he felt like running away from the battle. Even with that feeling fluttering around within Shadow, he still glared at the insane doctor. Shadow was now starting to see the real differences between this Eggman and the other fat, gullible one. As Shadow stared deep into the doctor's eyes, he could sense the bloodlust and destruction that mingled within the doctor's mind. There was no more humanity mingling in that man's eyes anymore and Shadow could tell that Eggman had finally turned into a monster.

Before Shadow end the little chat and attack Eggman, the doctor disappeared in a blur of motion. Shadow cursed silently, finding Eggman's sudden increase in speed annoying. The black hedgehog jumped to the side as Eggman suddenly came slamming down on him. Using his own speed, Shadow vanished and reappeared behind Eggman in a matter of seconds. The hedgehog wasn't impressed at all by Eggman's growth in strength. After living for such a long time, Shadow has seen countless transformations where demonic creatures turn into huge monstrosities. So this was nothing special.

Shadow jumped into the air, curling his body into his Spin Dash position before charging Eggman. Seconds before Shadow could crash into Eggman's skull, the doctor looked over his shoulder, flashing that same psychotic smile at Shadow. For a split nano-second, Shadow felt a moment of hesitation, slowing his rotation speed. Using that opportunity Eggman quickly turned around and smashed Shadow into the ground.

Eggman drew his face closer to Shadow's as he pinned the hedgehog down with one hand. "That sensation that you're feeling," said Eggman as he started to chuckle. "it's called _fear_."

Sonic, Shadow and Vanilla's jaws dropped in shock at Eggman's words. Fear was something Shadow never showed. Hesitation, nervousness, those were the words that had no meaning to Shadow before and he wasn't going to start.

As Eggman continued to apply more pressure on Shadow's body, Sonic tried to get Cream and Charmy out of the truck. It was no use, because the driver was dead and Sonic had no idea how to use the truck. Inside, Cream, Charmy and Cheese were screaming at the top of their lungs, but their cries were not heard through the truck's steel walls. While Sonic tried to pry the door off of a bullet proof war machine, Shadow continued his fight with Eggman.

With Eggman's words stinging his mind, Shadow continued to try and lift the doctor's huge hands. As he did, hateful thoughts pooped into his head.

"_Fear! Shadow the hedgehog knows no fear!" _Shadow yelled within his head as he tried to lift Eggman's hand, but to no avail.

"_Nervousness, hesitation and fear! Those are the emotions of the weak!" _yelled a furious Shadow from within his mind, as he slowly lifted Eggman's hand off of him, making the Doctor put on a curious expression.

"_And I am not weak!" _With his anger, Shadow launched Eggman off of him.

Shadow was breathing sharply as he got back to his feet to see that Eggman had landed on top of a car, crushing it on impact. Anger was drifting within Shadow's eyes as he slowly walked toward the downed doctor. He would never feel fear ever again, he would become stronger and wash out all of the emotions that he considered unwanted. Eggman would be the first person to witness Shadow's full wrath, no matter what it would take.

Only a few more steps away from Eggman, Shadow stopped and aimed his hand at Eggman. Yellow arcs of electricity-like power flared across the hedgehog's hand as he gathered more power. As he started to gather even more energy, a small yellow orb formed in his hand, but hovered only a few centimeters away from it. The power being held in that small orb could destroy a whole warehouse and as it gained even more power, Shadow grinned evilly.

Once finished the orb within Shadow's hand fizzled and cracked with energy as small arcs of power jumped from it. Eggman still lay on the car, not even a single movement while Shadow was charging his attack. It was like Eggman wanted to get hit.

"Chaos," Shadow started before Sonic and Vanilla looked over to see him.

Eggman chuckled softly. "This is going to be interesting." He said quietly.

"LANCE!" yelled Shadow as the orb expanded into a large beam that blasted toward Eggman.

With a giant roar, the large yellow beam engulfed Eggman in a matter of seconds. Small pieces of metal from cars flew in the high velocity gust that the beam created, causing Vanilla and Sonic to hang on to the truck. Sonic knew that Shadow only unleashed that level of power during a massive fight.

The giant beam died away, leaving a cloud of smoke and dust in its wake. The car that Eggman lay on was completely destroyed, but to Sonic's surprise, he couldn't find Eggman anywhere amidst the destruction. Instead of continuing to scan the remains, Sonic continued to pry the door off of the truck and slowly but surely he was getting there. A small crack opened up in the door, letting the fear filled screams from the children inside.

"Hang on kids, I'm coming." grunted Sonic as he continued to pull.

As Sonic continued to pry the door off, Shadow looked over the destruction that he had caused. Even with his improved senses, he could not sense Eggman anywhere. It was like the doctor had vanished while within the blast.

"Interesting indeed." said a familiar voice from behind Shadow.

The ebony hedgehog turned around to find Eggman. Shadow's face contorted into a disgusted one as he looked at Eggman's burnt and bruised body. Even with those serious injuries, the doctor stood upright, as if not noticing the pain at all that would usually make a man fall on his knees and cry. Eggman was busy inspecting his burnt hand that looked almost unrecoverable. The doctor was definitely intrigued by the lack of pain that he felt and to his surprise, something more miraculous was happening within his body.

Shadow watched as the burns on Eggman's hand disappeared, healing him fully. The dark blue-ish purple bruises disappeared and the blood was absorbed into Eggman's skin. Watching Eggman fully recover made that same sensation fill Shadow once again, but he suppressed it, knowing that it was fear the he felt.

After he fully recovered from the attack, Eggman stared into Shadow's eyes, the smile still glinting on his face. "As much as I would love to test out this new ability on you, I do have things to get to Shadow." He said in a careless tone.

Eggman disappeared again, using his newfound speed to get past Shadow. The bulky doctor reappeared behind Sonic and Vanilla, who had just pried open the steel door.

"Come on, we've got to get out of here!" said Sonic in a hushed tone as he carried Cream and Charmy out of the truck without noticing Eggman behind him.

"Not so fast my furry friend." said Eggman cruelly, making Sonic stand up stiff with Cream in her arms.

After striking fear into Sonic's soul, Eggman took one step toward his price. Cream squirmed and whimpered in Sonic's grip as she watched Eggman grow closer. Eggman stretched out his arm, ready to take hold of the tiny rabbit. Before he could however, a ton of incoming fists blurred his vision as Shadow ran in front of the doctor and started to attack. With the greatest of ease, Eggman dodged every single punch as if they were coming at him in slow motion.

Shadow grunted as he sped up his punches, making them become a flurry of punches. Even Eggman had to admit defeat as the punches dug into his body at high speeds, bring a sharp piercing pain for a couple of seconds before his body started to heal. It was an interesting experience for the doctor, but he knew that he was being pressed for time since his creations were running amok through the city.

Before Eggman could launch his counterattack, five Egglings burst out from the building behind him. Three of them leapt onto Eggman's back, before digging their long filthy fangs into his skin and the other remaining two charged Shadow. Eggman writhed and yelled as he tried to rip the Egglings off of him. Pain was surging through the bite wounds, as if the Egglings saliva was acid to his blood system. Ivo took hold of one Eggling and slammed it against the ground with a loud bone-snapping crunch, that instantly killed the Eggling. The remaining two on Eggman's back kept their jaws locked on the doctor like some sort of stubborn dog trying to get back its favorite toy.

Shadow dodged a fearsome swing as one of the Egglings tried to carve him into bits. The ebony hedgehog was ready to retaliate before he saw Eggman's situation. For the same reason that Eggman saved Sonic, Shadow seized both of the Egglings by the neck and threw them at the creatures latched onto Eggman's back. The monster's biting into Eggman were knocked onto the ground before the doctor could smash his boots onto the heads of the two that were previously on his back. The remaining Egglings, scurried away, knowing that their creator was too strong for them to handle.

A relieved sigh escaped Eggman's lips, before the doctor felt the wounds that the Egglings had inflicted him with. His hand found a bloody and swollen bite marks, to his surprise, the wounds didn't heal as fast as they should've. Small droplets of blood traced down Eggman's back as his wounds bled freely. His own blood interested the doctor on a high level. It has been a while since he has seen his own blood. But instead of taking more time out of the day to calculate why he was bleeding, Eggman turned his attention back on Shadow, who was panting heavily from the strain of fighting.

Eggman looked past Shadow and found that Sonic was trying to sneak away with the kids in tow. Using the opportunity, Eggman vanished using his speed and reappeared in front of Sonic. Instead of throwing out some witty words for Sonic, or trying to antagonize the cobalt hedgehog into fighting, Eggman just snatched Cream into his big arms and smiled at Sonic.

"So sorry, I wish I had more time to chat with you and explore my new powers, but I'm on a tight schedule." said the doctor in a playful tone as Cream tried to squirm free from his grip.

Sonic leapt forward, trying to grab onto Eggman, but before his hand could even come within centimeters of touching Eggman, the doctor disappeared. With a grieving heart, Sonic hit the ground face first. The Blue Blur just lay there as he began to sob, while behind him, Vanilla fell on her knees in shock. Cheese slowly floated down to the ground with a saddened expression and Charmy started to cry. Yet another loss for Sonic and now he had to find a way to explain this to Tails, for he knew that his fox friend also had feelings for Cream. Vanilla was just as shocked and as traumatize as everyone else, because Cream was her only daughter, the one thing she was meant to protect and she failed.

As if to throw some salt into the wound, Shadow walked up to the sulking group, his serious look on his face. Instead of giving some comforting words, Sonic watched as the ebony hedgehog teleport away using Chaos Control.

* * *

_I save the world no matter what. Sometimes I don't even care if I get hurt in the end. But if I lose this time, everyone will pay the price._

* * *

**This is the last chapter I get in before school starts, so expect a larger period of time between updates.**


	14. The Heartbroken and the Heartless

**Disclaimer: Sonic and co. © Sega**

**Reise and Egglings © Blank the Nobody**

Chapter Thirteen

The Heart Broken and the Heartless

1 Month, 21 Days and 3 Hours before Black Egg Armageddon

* * *

_What could I do? My heart was too broken that I couldn't run after Eggman and I didn't have the courage to talk to Ms. Vanilla. All I could do is run away and pray that this was all a bad dream._

* * *

A bright ray of moonlight covered the hedgehog's cobalt blue fur as he sat on a cliff overlooking Station Square. Out of nowhere, a gentle breeze blew along the scent of blood, gunpowder, lead and burning plaster, making Sonic's eyes water from the smell. Below him, the city was slowly recovering from the attack as the army began to kill the last of the Egglings even though they knew that they wouldn't get all of them. Sirens wailed and the small pops from guns came into the air. Firefighters rushed to put out the flames that almost engulfed the whole city and the small squads of soldiers fired off precise rounds into the heads of Egglings, making an even bloodier mess on the city's streets.

Sonic exhaled a weary and tired sigh, knowing that he didn't help the city at all. The only thing that he did do was run away from his enemy and get an innocent girl kidnapped amidst the chaos. There was no way that Sonic could go back to the city with that on his head. If he did go back, the public would look down upon him, Ms. Vanilla would hate him forever and his friends would never look at him the same. He just couldn't find a good answer to his situation except for running away so he could collect his scattered thoughts.

Leaves rustled on their branches as another cold breeze blew by, chilling the hedgehog to his very bone. Sonic looked up, his eyes meeting the white moon floating in a sea of darkness along with the small shimmering lights that was cast off by the stars around it. A picture perfect night that soothed Sonic's aching heart a little bit. Who knows, maybe on another night like this Sonic would take Amy to somewhere exotic for a nice dinner for a nice chat amongst Mobius's finest restaurants.

The blue hedgehog shook the thought out of his head. He had more important things to think about other then having a nice dinner with Amy. One of his main problems was Tails reaction to Cream being kidnapped. The young fox had already been through hell, how was he going to handle this?

"Sonic?" called out a young, yet familiar voice in a nervous tone.

Sonic looked over his shoulder to find a nervous Tails behind him. The cobalt hedgehog could easily see that Tails was scared, and he knew why. Tails took a step toward Sonic, his single tail slowly drifting to the side as the wind easily picked it up. Sonic was at a loss for words at that moment. He had no idea whether to tell Tails about Cream or lie to him to keep him safe, either way the fox would learn of it sooner or later.

"Tails, I, uh," hesitated Sonic, trying to find the proper words to say. "are you alright? Did any of the Egglings hurt you?" Sonic asked in a worried tone, since he had no idea where his friend was during the attack.

The young fox walked forward and sat next to Sonic. Tails for some reason looked a bit more at ease then Sonic. Maybe it was because he had no idea that Cream's gone or maybe it was because for some other reason. Tails scooted closer to Sonic, as if he had something important to tell him and to Sonic's surprise it was.

"I'm fine and don't worry, I know." said Tails in a quiet tone, before flashing Sonic a kind smile.

A confused look took on Sonic's face as he stared at Tails. "What do you mean?" Sonic asked, no understanding what Tails had meant.

"I know what happened," Tails hesitated for a moment, as if to force the words out of his mouth. "with Cream." said Tails, finally getting the words to come out of his mouth.

No words could form in Sonic's awestruck expression. Apparently Tails was taking it much easier then he could ever. Sonic expected to find a sobbing and saddened Tails instead of one that had the guts and courageousness to confront him afterwards. After all these years of hiding behind Sonic and watching his favorite hero fight, Tails seemed to have developed a stronger spirit and will to win, which surprised Sonic greatly. Watching from the sidelines, watching Sonic endure the pain as if it was his own, all those things seemed to have tempered the young fox's heart made him more like a hero then a sidekick. Even with that Sonic had no idea how to reply to the statement.

He couldn't find any words that he could use to apologize to Tails and Sonic could feel the tears starting to leak from his eyes. Sonic couldn't hold it in any longer and he let the tears flow from down his eyes, before leaning on Tails for support. Sonic couldn't take it anymore. Holding in all the sadness and sorrow, pushing on through tough times had finally gotten to him. Being a hero was hard and everyone knew that, but after so long, even some heroes had to take a break.

"I'm sorry!" Sonic sobbed as he cried on Tails' shoulder.

Tails didn't reply, because he knew how sorry Sonic was. The fox could recall the times that he had to apologize to Sonic for screwing up and now he felt as if he had switched places. Tails extended an arm around Sonic, so he could comfort his friend. A couple hours before, Tails was acting just like Sonic after receiving the news, crying and sobbing his heart out, hoping that his friend would be okay even though there was a slim chance that she would come back alive.

"I tried to save her!" sobbed Sonic, getting his tears on Tails fur.

"I know, Sonic." said Tails softly, trying to make Sonic feel better.

Most people think that Sonic's the tough one and Tails is the weak and sensitive one. Their assumptions are wrong sometimes though. From time to time, Sonic and Tails could switch places, allowing Sonic to release the pent up emotions that he kept inside of him. Even heroes have soft sides, some just choose to hide them from the public to maintain their image. Tails didn't care though, he always made the right choices no matter what anyone else would think.

There was nothing Tails could say. Every time he tried to find some kind words, his mind was frozen on the fact that his girlfriend-to-be, was kidnapped and his best friend was having a mental break down. So far, after Eggman's transformation everyone was starting to lose. Nothing ever turned out right and more people were dying. Whatever Eggman did to himself, it was working. Slowly but surely, Eggman was starting to win and in the process drive the heroes insane.

"We should get back, it's alright no one else knows except Charmy and Vanilla." said Tails as he lifted Sonic to his feet.

Soon enough, things were going to get worse, Sonic would have to deal with the public and the press. It would be months before Station Square would be rebuilt and to make things even worse, almost all of the people would blame Sonic. It was as if Eggman had planned everything, from Sonic's reaction to the Public's reaction. There was nothing they could do anymore, the public would either hate Sonic forever or call out his name in times of need once more.

Tails and Sonic both made their way back to the city. As days started to go by, Sonic was starting to get used to the accusations from the public, but now it was different. He had put his friends on the line of fire and this was something he could not allow. Sonic made his way back to the city ready for the waves of criticism that he would receive.

* * *

Somewhere else across the city, a dark hedgehog stood atop one of the battered sky scrapers. Below him the windows and chairs were broken and smashed from the Eggling's attacks. A cold and uncaring look glared down at the hurt civilians and soldiers as they were taken to the remaining hospitals in working condition. The smell of fire and gunpowder was familiar to Shadow, as he remembered the Black Arms Invasion.

The ebony hedgehog closed his eyes and images of Cream in her last moments flashed in his head. Shadow blocked out the images and kept his icy glare on. He didn't care at all. If the world were to be destroyed, then Shadow would make sure that he would survive among everything else.

"You could always show some sympathy from time to time. It wouldn't hurt, you know." said a voice from behind Shadow.

Shadow turned around to find a dark brown jackal with a dark tan muzzle standing behind him. The jackal wore no shirt at all, revealing his strong tightly packed muscles, his paints were black jeans and wore shoes similar to Knuckles. Bandages were wrapped around the jackal's wrists and they looked tattered and old. Two shiny gold bracelets covered the jackal's bandage wrapped wrist and the moonlight reflected off of them giving them an ominous shine that seemed to match his dark brown eyes.. Shadow recognized the jackal from a couple months back.

"What do you want Anubis?" asked the dark hedgehog with a cold tone. "I thought Grimwalkers don't come out of the Underground."

The jackal named Anubis laughed. "We can come out Shadow, just not during the day, you should remember. Besides, I wanted to see how you were doing, seeing that everything else is going to hell up here." said Anubis before walked up next to Shadow. Anubis scanned the destruction on the streets and smiled some more. "Reminds me of when we used to work with each other." He said smugly.

A cold gale of wind swept through the city again, not even making Anubis or Shadow shiver since they were so battle hardened. Months before, Shadow wandered upon a portal to a city far underneath Station Square called the Underground. But that's a story for another time.

"Seeing how this world is probably close to annihilation I would like to offer the help of the Underground Army." said Anubis, still looking down on the destruction.

"Good, go to the government and tell them." stated Shadow with the least amount of caring he could ever muster.

Anubis chuckled, finding Shadow's 'tough act' hilarious. But that's not what he meant at all. Anubis wasn't the type of person to offer the help of an entire undead army to anyone. It wasn't like him in any way at all. He liked to play mind games with people to see what kind of person they are and slowly but steadily, Anubis was getting a pretty accurate psychological profile on Shadow

"You misunderstand Shadow, I'm offering my help to you, not the government." said Anubis finally before turning around to face Shadow, with a smile almost like Eggman's.

"What are you talking about?" asked Shadow with a confused glare.

"The invitation is only to you Shadow. Right now you hold the power of an entire undead army. You can either use it against this Eggman or cast it aside to show how strong you truly are." said Anubis, giving Shadow a very important decision.

Everyone knows that Shadow is the type of person that would never except any help, but this was power. The manpower and strength of an entire undead army could definitely help him take down Eggman and the power was something that Shadow definitely wanted. But Shadow didn't want to look weak, he wanted to show his raw power instead of relying on other people. Most people would take the army, just for the power of helping the world or conquering it, but not everyone is Shadow the hedgehog.

"What'll it be, Shads?" asked Anubis in a playful tone.

It was a dire question for Shadow, but he knew that even if he denied it no one would know. But Anubis is a wild card, he could come out of nowhere and probably tell Sonic or Amy and get Shadow into a bigger mess just for the laughs. After a moment of thinking, Shadow had finally made up his mind.

"No, Anubis, thanks for the offer but I don't need your help." said Shadow finally in a stern tone.

Shadow had made his most important decision. Not taking Anubis's help would probably be something he would regret in the future, but Shadow didn't care. As long as he would get stronger, nothing mattered. Anubis raised an eyebrow at the answer before shrugging. For some odd reason, the jackal anticipated the answer and quite frankly, he didn't care anymore. The jackal put his hands in his pocket and grinned at the hedgehog.

"Whatever man," said Anubis before walking past Shadow. The jackal stopped a couple feet behind Shadow, their backs still facing each other. "I almost forgot," continued Anubis. "Felecia says 'hi.'" He said before disappearing into the grim darkness of the night.

Once again, Shadow was left alone to contemplate on his actions. He exhaled a relieved sigh before looking up at the pale moon that sat floated among the shimmering stars. A night such as this brought back memories from the Black Arms Invasion, a hellish nightmare that caused great destruction to the world. This time would be different though, instead of undergoing some bizarre alien invasion, the world would have to face the full wrath of one of its oldest enemies. Shadow didn't care about the decision he had made moments before. The only thing that mattered was his survival and that was something he could definitely ensure.

Shadow closed his eyes and concentrated some power. "Chaos," he began silently. "Control." He finished before a large flash of light radiated from the hedgehog's body. After the light faded away Shadow was gone.

* * *

**Okay one second **

**Disclaimer: Anubis © Blank the Nobody**

**Now that's out of the way, the story behind Shadow and Anubis will be made after I get 'Breaking Point' finished. **


	15. Insanity's Epiphany

**Disclaimer: Sonic and co. © Sega**

**Reise and Egglings © Blank the Nobody**

Chapter Fourteen

Insanity's Epiphany

1 Month, 19 Days and 12 Hours before Black Egg Armageddon

* * *

_You can drive a person to the edge of oblivion. But when you take them too far, too many times, they eventually snap._

* * *

"Mommy." whimpered a small and scared voice.

A single ray of light shined down on her from an old and overused light bulb. In the middle of the light sat a scared rabbit, sitting in fetal position with her arms wrapped around her knees. Tears cascaded down her cheeks and onto her stained and tattered dress. Her cries echoed and bounced off of the tiny room's walls. It was a nightmare for the girl, a total and absolute nightmare. There was no contact with the outside world making her think that all of her friends are dead. She hoped and prayed that her friends were alive and a small glimmer of hope shined in her soul. Another sob escaped the rabbit's lips as more tears poured out of her eyes.

In front of her was a small two way mirror and as she cried a tall, shadowy figure stepped into the next room so they could watch. Cream could only get a glimpse of a silhouette behind the glass and she wanted to scream. There was no point though, the only person that would hear her scream would be herself and the psychotic man behind the glass.

"Good evening Cream, how are we doing this fine evening?" asked Eggman as a light lit up in his room, making it possible to see him from Cream's side.

The man was being sarcastic, anyone could tell. But why? Why cause so much pain to a young, innocent girl? Was it for some greater purpose unbeknownst to her? Or just to antagonize Sonic into attacking him? An answer couldn't be found at all, and Cream only hoped that she would somehow survive the trials she was about to endure.

Cream didn't reply to Eggman's question and instead kept on crying. Eggman watched the girl sob and his heart was filled with sadness. Even though he's an evil villain, the doctor couldn't stand watching Cream cry. Not because it was annoying, because it actually pained his heart to do so. The doctor still has some feelings left and watching a little girl cry did make him feel bad. But in his mind, he knew that it was all for the good in advancing his own science. A familiar figure walked up next to Eggman and a familiar laugh filled the room Eggman was in.

"So tell me, have you gotten used to the screams of young children yet?" asked Reise as he stared through the glass.

Eggman turned to face his new partner. Even though they were working together, Eggman still wasn't used to Reise's sadistic mind. But soon enough, Eggman's way of thinking would be the same. Ivo could've grabbed any other little girl, but Reise told him to kidnap Cream specifically. The doctor looked through the glass, his eyes staring at the frightened form that was Cream. His heart ached a bit, but he quickly got over it.

The experiment was to see if the Egglings still had any humanity left in them. If they didn't attack Cream, then there was still a droplet of hope in the Mobian turned monster. Eggman and Reise didn't want that. They wanted brutal, battle hardened creatures that will kill anything that they come into contact with. The experiment quickly started as Eggman swiftly grabbed the microphone in front of him and turned it on.

"Well, I might as well get down to business," said Eggman into the microphone so Cream could hear him.

Eggman pressed a large red button next to the microphone, switching on all of the lights in Cream's holding chamber. The young rabbit cringed in fear, not knowing what was happening, but she still stayed seated. In every corner of the room there were mechanical, circular doors. Her fear intensified at the sight and she held in the urge to cry. What sick game was Eggman playing at now? To take her mind off of it, Cream inspected her room. It was square and normal with dark gray metal walls. The room was large enough for her to run around in and not get hurt, but small enough for the sense of solitary to set in.

A smile crept onto Reise's face at the sight and was filled with excitement and Eggman shared in his excitement only a little bit. He still felt bad about what he was doing, but he kept working anyway knowing that it would somehow help his own cause. Robotnik grabbed the microphone again and gave Cream her last piece of useful advice.

"If I were you, I would get up," said Eggman, with a calm tone. Cream looked up to see the doctor with a confused look. "because things are going to get a bit hectic in there." There was a green button next to the red one he had previously pushed and Eggman's broad finger hovered over it. He still had a conscience, and he knew that he couldn't press the button.

"Do it." said Reise seriously and as if his body was being controlled, Eggman pressed the button.

A low hum rose up in the air, making Cream whimper in fear. Slowly but steadily the four circles in the corner of the room started to slide open. After the mechanical doors slid open the humming stopped, but instead, the sound of hydraulic pistons hissing to life rose up. Cream jumped to her feet, her knees shaking nervously as four large pillar-like cages rose up from the holes. Each cylinder was at least four yards away from her, but that didn't make her feel better at all. From her position, Cream could hear the defiant roars and thumps coming from within the cylinders, making the felling of death drench down into her heart.

Eggman looked down at the microphone. There was one more button left to push, but if he did, he would sign Cream's death warrant for her. Within his head, two sides were conflicting with each other. 'Push the button!' yelled one part of his head, 'Don't push it!' yelled the other. A single bead of sweat dropped off of Eggman's face as he continued to debate with himself. Reise noticed the lack of bloodshed and looked over at Eggman who hadn't pressed the button yet. For Reise, Eggman's cowardice made the doctor look weak and that was something Reise wouldn't have.

"What are you waiting for?" he asked in a cynical tone.

The doctor looked at the man with an angered look. He didn't want to do it, torturing other people was fine, but doing it to little girls was a bit too far for him. Eggman thought back when he tortured Tails, at that time, he was in the thrill of the moments, dismembering the fox's tails was something fuelled by his own rage against the fox. But he had no problem with Cream. Now he was picking on someone who didn't deserve the punishment. But attacking a young female was needed for the experiment to work.

"I'm not going to do it." he said finally, in a calm tone.

A shocked look washed over Reise's face at the statement. The expression quickly turned into an angered one, for Reise didn't like Eggman's defiance toward him.

"I told you to do it." hissed Reise in an enraged tone, as he glared at his colleague with infuriated eyes.

"No!" Eggman yelled as he stood straight up and stared at Reise.

While Reise and Eggman were having a heated debate, something weird was happening on Cream's side. The rabbit stared at the glass in front of her, Eggman clearly in sight. What intrigued her the most was the fact that he could see the doctor arguing and yelling angrily. The odd thing was, Cream couldn't see anyone else. Through Cream's eyes, all she could see was Eggman yelling at nothing but an empty space.

"DO IT!" yelled Reise angrily as he got face-to-face with Eggman.

Obviously Eggman wasn't going to do it, but for some reason, it felt as if Reise was overpowering him. "No." said the brawny doctor in a low and serious tone.

Reise wouldn't take it anymore. The man clad in black grabbed Eggman's arm quickly and lifted it onto the last remaining button. Eggman swatted Reise's hand away, but he knew that it was already too late. A loud hiss filled Cream's chamber as the cylinder's slowly opened up. Cream's gaze darted from each of the cylinders, as a fearful whimper escaped her lips. A low growl came from each of the open cylinders, combining in the air to create a dreadful hum. The young rabbit stared into one of the open pistons and a pair of glowing bloodshot eyes shot open. Seconds later a gnarled, clawed arm shot out of the cylindrical cage.

"No." whispered Eggman as he gazed through the glass that separated him from the rabbit.

The growling intensified as the four creatures pulled themselves out of confinement. Each of the Egglings were hungry for blood and after setting their eyes on Cream the dinner bell was ringing in their heads. One Eggling took a step forward, anxiously licking its lips in preparation for his mouthwatering meal. Cream only stood there, whimpering in fear as all four creatures slowly approached her. She couldn't escape them because the room was so small and Cream wasn't the fighting type without Cheese.

"You can stop them." said Reise with a devilish smile.

"What are you talking about?" asked Eggman in a hesitant tone.

In an instant, all four Egglings leapt forward, destroying Cream's hope for survival. The only thing she could do was stand there and let out a loud scream. Eggman smashed his hands onto the desk in front of him and without his knowledge he hit the microphone button.

"STOP!" he roared angrily, his voice booming through the speakers hidden in Cream's room.

Cream stood there, her eyes shut and her whole body shaking in fear. Noticing that she hadn't been mauled to death, Cream slowly opened one eye to find all four Egglings standing in place, but still growling angrily. Eggman looked at the sight with astonishment. As if on command, the Egglings stopped their attack and remained in their positions, even though they still growled at Cream. Reise smiled at the sights, not because it was impressive, it was because he knew it was going to happen.

"You should stop worrying." said the man in black, in a calm tone.

Eggman's stare instantly shifted over to Reise with an angry expression strewn across his face. It was cruel, but at least Eggman did learn something about his new powers. At least he was slowly leanring and taking precise note within his head. Eggman sighed and prepared to press the button that would pump in the sleeping gas in the room. He wouldn't kill Cream, but Reise had other plans.

"Attack." said Reise, knowing that the microphone was still on.

In a matter of seconds, the Egglings pounced again. Luckily, Cream was able to jump out of the way and dodge the attacks. For a couple of minutes Cream was able to avoid the attacks. A swing was thrown out her and it created a wide cut going down her arm. Cream wasn't fast enough to avoid all of the attacks and soon enough, cuts and bruises were covering the rabbit's body. Even with the injuries, Cream was still able to avoid some more attacks even though she knew that she was reaching the end of her rope.

With another swift jump to the right, Cream avoided a downward swing towards her. After the jump, Cream collapsed and landed on the wall for support. Blood trailing down each of her wounds and onto her tattered mess, making her look like some sort of beat up homeless person. Tears fell freely from her eyes because she knew that she wouldn't survive.

An Eggling then slowly walked up to her and overshadowed the tiny rabbit as she whimpered in the corner. It radiated a hungry growl as it came closer and closer, ready to tear her to shreds to make eating her much easier. The other Egglings crowded around her, all of them ready for their snack. The Eggling in front of Cream raised its clawed arm up in preparation for the killing blow. Cream screwed her eyes shut and waited. The Eggling swung its arm downwards and Cream could only think of her life back home.

"Halt." said a familiar voice in a hesitant tone.

The pain didn't come and Cream slowly opened her eyes. Standing in the middle of the room was the same brawny and hulking Eggman from before. Accompanying him was Reise, sporting his normal black overcoat. Eggman's command made the Eggling stop its attack and the group parted so Eggman could see the rabbit. The doctor strode forward and kneeled down in front of Cream, instead of wearing his new psychotic smile, Eggman wore a kinder and more gentler one.

"Don't worry, we're not going to kill you. Reise and I just needed some data, that's all." said Eggman in a soft tone.

That was all he wanted anyway. Some data for his own gain in this war that was raging between himself and Sonic. He had no business killing Cream, not now or ever.

Cream looked around and then looked at Eggman. "Wh- who's Reise?" she asked nervously. If she wasn't going to die, she could at least get some information for Sonic and the gang.

Eggman pointed at Reise with his thumb and smiled again. "He is." He said normally.

It all made sense then. Cream looked past the doctor and stared at nothing but air. "No one's there." she said in a scared tone.

A shocked expression washed over Eggman's face before he looked over his shoulder to see Reise plain as day. But Reise smiled and waved at the doctor and he faded into thin air as if he wasn't there at all. Eggman couldn't tell what was happening to him. The doctor then looked at Cream with the same shocked expression as before. He got up and held his head in hesitation.

"Knock her out." he commanded, before the Egglings backhanded Cream in the head.

Sweat was starting to form on Eggman's brow as he started to think of the possibilities.

"Having delusions Ivo?" asked a familiar voice.

Eggman turned around to see a smiling Reise stand in the middle of the room. Before Eggman could get a word out of his mouth Reise walked up to Eggman and literally walked into the doctor. Eggman's head started to spin as memories flooded in out of nowhere. The doctor fell to his knees and clutched his head.

_Flash!_

_Eggman was in his office, the day he attained his new powers. He was sulking and crying just like he remembered, but there was definitely something different. The lights didn't go out and Eggman slammed himself against the wall, then he hit the floor. There was no Reise though, Eggman was doing it all on his own. The fat Eggman then ran out into the hallway then into the storage area, no one following him at all. _

_Flash!_

"_No one's there." said Cream before being knocked out._

_Flash!_

Eggman was on the floor his head spinning. Reise didn't exist at all. He was only some delusion created by Eggman so he could finally win. Reise is all of Eggman's rage and insanity bent into one cruel and uncaring form. Now Reise was taking over, turning Eggman into the perfect weapon. After reaching his breaking point so many times, Eggman finally snapped. He went crazy in the search for power and that's how it's going to stay, now and forever.

* * *

**Don't touch that dial kids, Eggman's gone totally nuts and created his own imaginary friend of pure insanity and rage!**


	16. Last Act of Kindness

**Disclaimer: Sonic and co. © Sega**

**Egglings © Blank the Nobody**

Chapter Fifteen

Last Act of Kindness

1 Month, 18 Days and 12 Hours before Black Egg Armageddon

* * *

_That was it, Eggman's last act of kindness before losing himself to his own insanity._

* * *

Days went by after Eggman's newest assault with his Egglings. G.U.N. was able to take out most of the Eggling forces, but they knew that they were still stragglers hiding around in the city, taking innocent people off of the streets and devouring them. After Sonic returned to the city, he was surprised to see that the public didn't blame him completely, which eased the hedgehog's heart to some degree. Even though the number of missing people was still rising because of the remaining Egglings, the city was slowly starting to get back to normal. The once lively sidewalks now held nervous and afraid citizens, too scared to ever walk into a dark alleyway alone. Cops and even some squads of soldiers were stationed around the city, to ensure the safety of its citizens. And the remaining hero's laid low.

Instead of hanging out on some beautiful hilltop, gazing down at the city, Sonic took shelter in the apartment building that Tails was staying in until he had rebuilt his workshop. Everything that has happened so far has deeply affected Sonic's mental status. He wasn't used to death, he was used to knocking out his enemies, destroying robots and eradicating emotionless shadow-like beasts. Never before has Sonic witnessed so much death before in his life. The screams coming from the burning civilians rang through his head as he remembered the invasion vividly, as if he was reliving it. Sonic couldn't sleep soundly anymore because of the memories haunting his dreams and the feeling of failure weighed down on his heart.

Sonic sat on the couch in the quaint apartment complex. The wall's a chocolate brown with light caramel brown stripes. Pictures from some unknown artist adorned the walls, adding a more house-like feel to it. In the corner, a 24 inch flat screen TV stood proudly, broadcasting the news for the day and luckily for Sonic, the anchorman didn't mention him. A saddened sigh escaped the sorrowful hedgehog's lips before looking out the window. The sun was high in the sky with small bushes of clouds surrounding it, but not obstructing its way. He was grateful that the last few days were nice and calm, with no Eggman in sight. Tails was in the forest somewhere, building a new workshop somewhere closer to the mountains. The young fox still continued his daily lifestyle even with the knowledge of Cream's capture in mind, but instead of letting it get to him, Tails took his mind off of it by working. Sadly Sonic didn't have that pleasure, instead he was subjected to reliving the horrifying moments in his mind over and over again.

No, Sonic wouldn't take it anymore, he knew he had to find some way to take his mind off things. Sonic pulled himself off of the couch and walked out of the apartment, making sure to lock the door behind him as he left. The cobalt blue hedgehog ran out of the apartment building at full speed, making him nothing but a blue blur to the naked eye. Running was always Sonic's method of coping. If he ever had problems, he would run, if there was something bothering him, he would run, if Amy was chasing him then of course, he would run and the list goes on.

As he ran through the streets, he could feel the searing gazes from the disappointed people setting into his fur, as they looked at the blue blur passing through the city's streets. Sonic didn't look back at them though. Within seconds, Sonic was already at the city limits and entered the forest. His feet swiftly stepped over debris like logs, rocks and the occasional stream, but Sonic didn't stop. He ran and ran, as if he was trying to escape the grasp of the memories he was trying to forget. Not even his own speed would save him this time and now he would have to live with that fact forever.

Wind swept past Sonic's face as he dashed through the forest, the air not bothering his eyes because he's done it so many times before. Before him, a long and twisting path with some unknown destination set for Sonic. As he ran the memories flooded through Sonic's head once more and the hedgehog stopped in the middle of a large clearing within the forest. With the weight of guilt weighing on top of him Sonic broke down onto his knees as he fought back the tears he held within.

He grunted and groaned before punching the soft grass under him in frustration. For one moment in his entire life, Sonic felt as if the world would be better if he was dead. Stress, irritation and anger were starting to set into the cobalt hero's head making him feel lower then dirt. There was no escape from the pain that stung his heart, or the sorrow the drenched his soul, unless he was able to somehow redeem himself.

"Well, well, well even hero's have their limits." said a familiar voice in a malicious tone.

And at that moment, Sonic felt as if he was thrust into battle yet again. His eyes widened after hearing the voice and he argued with himself whether he should get up or stay on the ground. He chose a side and Sonic slowly rose to his feet, his knees shaking nervously under his weight. Not to his surprise, Eggman was standing in front of him, still without his jacket covering his bulky physique. What surprised Sonic the most was the fact that Eggman didn't flash his psychotic smile this time and instead brought a serious frown like Shadow's normal expression. Next to the burly doctor was a tall metal case and Sonic's stomach churned at the sight of it as he remembered the time when he got Tails back. Just another coffin on Sonic's conscience.

"What do you want? Are you goin' to kill me this time?" Sonic asked, jokingly, leaving his cocky attitude behind.

Eggman chuckled from hearing Sonic's blatant question. The doctor knew that Sonic was scared and instead of increasing the fear, Eggman wanted to lessen it. In a swift second, the chuckle deteriorated and the serious glare came back on. He didn't have much time before his insanity peaked again and h used that time wisely. Using his one of his large, brawny arms, Eggman took hold of the steel container next to him and swung it in front of him.

"No Sonic, that's for another time." On top of the container was keyhole and the doctor withdrew a single key from his pocket. "Right now, I need you to do a favor for me before I lose myself to my own bloodlust." He said as he inserted the key into the slot.

His words confused Sonic greatly. This was normal because of Eggman's large intellect, but over the past few days, he's been using a wider variety of vocabulary that confused the hedgehog. The only thing Sonic did understand was the fact that Eggman was now gauging his own mental state, which was odd. Whatever happened with the doctor the few days before must've really spooked him, if he wasn't going to kill Sonic.

"I need you to take her," he continued, before turning the key with a click. The steel door slid open and out of it fell an unconscious Cream. "to the hospital before she bleeds to death." finished the doctor.

Sonic's jaw dropped in shock at the sight. Cream lay on the soft grass, dress tattered and cuts covering her body. Dark red blots stained her dress and some of it hardened into a thick crust that covered her cuts. What shocked Sonic the most was the fact that Cream looked fine besides the cuts and bruises. There were no marks that indicated cruel torture and no limbs missing, telling Sonic that Eggman went easy on the young girl.

"She's taken a beating, get her to the hospital before _he _changes my mind." said the doctor coldly.

The blue hero raised his eyebrow at the statement. "Who's _he_?" asked the confused hedgehog.

The doctor sighed from the question and wished he had time to explain to Sonic about the crazy things that have been happening to him lately. He knew he couldn't explain it to a person of such intellect, so Eggman just ignored it. "I don't have the time to explain, just take the girl and run." He said simply.

Without a second thought, Sonic ran toward Cream and easily scooped the girl into his arms. The hedgehog then ran back to the same place where he stood before, a nervous but grateful look on his face. He was at a loss for words, but he did manage to get some audible words out.

"Thank you." He said, before running off back into the city that once hated him.

Now Eggman was alone once more. But deep in his head the doctor knew that being alone was the reason for Reise's creation in the first place. At least Eggman wasn't that crazy yet. He could admit that his mental state was slowly decreasing, leaving a trail of destruction in its wake but he didn't want that. Eggman rubbed his eyebrow in irritation as a wave of pain stung his brain. Not even the strongest pain-killer pills would aid his destroyed psyche. He pushed the pain back and looked up at the sky and admired its beauty to take his mind off of the pain. This would probably be the last time he would admire the sky through his own eyes.

"_Why did you let her go!?" _hissed a familiar voice within Eggman's head.

After finally revealing himself as a hallucination created by Eggman, Reise decided to hide away in Eggman's mind. But the mental anomaly did seem angrier now, but it was normal because he was now embracing all of Eggman's anger and insanity.

"Because she's a little girl." said Eggman aloud, in a calm tone.

"_I don't care! You should've killed her just to spite Sonic!" _yelled Reise in an enraged tone.

Eggman exhaled a worried sigh, knowing that Reise's words were actually his own pent up and hidden thoughts.

"And I don't care about you either." said Eggman before vanishing.

* * *

Sonic ran through the city, knowing every turn and street leading to the hospital. He was going so fast that no one could see the unconscious girl held in his arms. Sweat was dropping off of the hedgehog's forehead as he ran. He had no idea what status Cream was in and he had to make it to the hospital for her own safety. It was like he was reliving the moment he saved Tails, except with the brutal mutilations. Within seconds, Sonic rammed through the hospital's automatic doors before they could open and he called for help immediately. Instead of lecturing Sonic for his blatant disregard for hospital property, the doctors rushed over to him and took Cream from him and carried her off.

Instead of following Cream, Sonic stayed back in the waiting room, knowing that he couldn't help the doctors even if he wanted to. But he wouldn't just stand there either, Sonic rushed over to the payphone and quickly slid in four quarters into its slot. He then rapidly dialed in the number that he knew by heart and waited as the phone rang in his ear.

"Hello?"asked a familiar voice through the phone.

"Tails! Get over to the hospital! We got Cream back!" Sonic yelled nervously.

Far, far, away, next to the mountainside, Tails' jaw dropped open. In an instant he was running toward the city and seconds after that he threw his old Extreme Gear in front of him for some extra speed. Tears of joy were slowly tracing down the fox's face as he sped toward the city. It was like a dream come true and Tails just had to make sure it was real. As he sped toward the city, he pinched himself, just to make sure that he wasn't dreaming.

* * *

**An Hour Later**

The only people gathered at the hospital were Sonic and Tails. Neither of them had contacted anyone else and they were going to keep it that way until they knew what Cream's condition was. After numerous tests were performed a single doctor strode out to greet the two, in his hand a clipboard with the results. Both Sonic and Tails got out of their seat in preparation for what the doctor would say.

"Gentlemen, I have some good news and some bad news." said the doctor plainly as he flipped through the papers that were on the clipboard.

A classic doctor saying, that everyone would expect. "Start with the good news." said Tails in an abrupt yell.

The doctor then raised his gaze off of the clipboard and onto the two in front of him. "Good news is that she'll survive." He said in a nonchalant tone.

Tails let go a sigh of relief at the news, but he knew that it wasn't over yet. Sonic on the other hand was still waiting for the bad news because he knew that Cream would survive.

"The bad news is," started the doctor, pausing in the middle of his sentence as if to increase the suspense. "she's in comatose right now." He finished as if not shocked at the development.

The seemingly happy moment was washed away with the bad news and Tails fell into his seat in shock. Sonic stood upright though, his mind reeling at Cream's current status. With good news comes bad news and Sonic knew that. The saddened blue hero looked down to see Tails clutching his head sadness. Only one thing was buzzing around in Sonic's mind though, he was at least happy to see that Cream was home.

X

Eggman had already made it back to his lab and was now sitting down in a large recliner chair. His sweat made the chair's cloth stick to his skin but he didn't mind at all. The doctor sat in the large chair as he held his head in pain. It wasn't a migraine, it was Reise trying once more to take over. Eggman wouldn't lose to him, no now or ever. His heart was racing as more and more waves of pain shot through his head. He couldn't take it anymore.

"_Kneel to me you weakling!" _yelled Reise within Eggman's head in a angry tone, sending another wave of pain soaring through his head.

"No!" yelled Eggman in a defiant tone before falling out of the chair, hands still holding his head.

The doctor rolled around on the ground, hands still clutching his head as he did. Oddly enough though, the pain in his head started to fade, but another pain was stirring up. The stinging pain was completely eradicated but a new burning pain arose on the back of his shoulder. Eggman rolled onto his stomach, his hands trying to reach the old injury that was burning. It was the bite he had received from the Eggling days before. The wound looked infected and it pulsed with black blood.

"_Your time's up Ivo, my turn to take the stage." _said Reise in a sadistic tone.

Robotnik screamed in pain as the burning in the wound intensified, making him feel like his entire body was aflame. Both his head and his bite-wound were on fire. His body flailed around in dangerous seizure from everything that was going on and the only thing he could see was a bright red light. A sinister laugh filled Eggman's ears, it was his own laugh, but with a more sadistic tone. The pain reached its all time high and then in a matter of seconds, everything went black and the old Eggman was lost under his own insanity.


	17. Reproduction

**Disclaimer: Sonic and co. © Sega **

**Egglings © Blank the Nobody**

Chapter Sixteen

Reproduction

1 Month, 1 Day and 14 Hours before Black Egg Armageddon

* * *

_The circle of life, one that involves life, death and birth. And one that allows even the most vilest of creatures to survive_

* * *

Days went by, and the missing persons list grew larger and larger. Still, no one cared, as long as it wasn't them, the only thing that they saw stapled to the boards were nothing but trash. No attacks were launched, no plans were revealed and everyone felt safe yet again, even though they knew that something bad was going to come sooner or later. A warm breeze flew through the city and lifted some of the torn down missing persons posters off the ground. People chatted and walked on the sidewalks, some carefree and some afraid of walking into the dark alleyways. Police were still stationed throughout the city, they stayed just in case an Eggling would pop up and thankfully none did. Even with the monsters gone, the scent of blood and gunpowder lingered around in the air, making some hack and cough at the odor.

Ms. Vanilla stayed in her daughters hospital room, making sure that she was safe at all times. After Cream had come back, Tails' self-esteem fell, but instead of moping around yet again, like Sonic, the young fox continued to work. Instead of thinking about Cream and her condition, Tails just stuck to the thought that she was back home and the possibility of her waking up in time. Shadow was nowhere to be found, that was normal, but Sonic did have some important questions for the ebony hedgehog. Team Chaotix was getting back to work, Espio still as calm and collected as normal, Charmy not as hyperactive because of Cream and Vector trying to lift Ms. Vanilla's spirits by taking her out. Knuckles on the other hand, had disappeared off the face of the planet.

Sonic was worried about Knuckles and he hoped that his red friend wasn't doing something reckless. The blue hedgehog walked through the streets calmly, instead of running by at his usual pace. Today was one of those gloomy days, the ones where clouds covered the beautiful blue sky in its entirety and where cold gales of wind randomly blew by, chilling the civilians to their very core. People wearing moderately thick coats walked through the sidewalks, passing the hero without giving the hedgehog a second glance.

The cobalt hero continued to walk through the chilly sidewalks, a somewhat calm look on his face. The fact that Eggman hadn't attacked yet didn't sit well with Sonic. But it did make sense, because great power always needs a good plan in order for it to work properly. Instead of snooping around in one of Eggman's lairs to find out what his new plan might be, Sonic stayed back in the city,so he could get his thoughts straightened out. Right now, his thoughts, ideas, memories and fears were all in a messy jumble like puzzle pieces dumped onto the ground.

Another chilled breeze slowly flew by; bringing in yet another lungful of air that was contaminated with the scent of blood. By now Sonic was used to the ungodly smell, but it did bring back memories. Ahead of him was an intersection, the left turn blocked off by orange cones and large construction vehicles, the place where Rouge died. Sonic ignored it and kept walking, he turned right, following the concrete sidewalk that lay before him. A couple blocks away another travesty, the place where Cream was kidnapped. It was as if horrible memories were scattered throughout the city and every turn he took he would discover yet another.

He ignored the scene and took another turn and luckily, there was no horror before him. Sonic exhaled a relieved sigh at the pleasant sight and continued his stroll through the city. A couple more blocks of walking did prove helpful for the hedgehog. He was able to organize most of his thoughts and think about the future. He continued to walk through the streets that were covered in a gray color from the sun's dampened rays. Using his peripheral vision, Sonic could see a red blot in the corner of his eye. Sonic turned, and to his surprise he found a familiar face standing in the middle of an alley staring right at him.

"Knuckles?" whispered Sonic to himself in a shocked tone, as if doubting his own sight.

Sonic then ran over into the alleyway to talk to his friend. Once there, he noticed that Knuckles was striking some sort of superior pose and was using a somewhat cold expression. There was nothing different with the red echidna other then that, but Sonic did notice the stronger scent of blood emanating from the echidna. Whatever he was doing the days before definitely wasn't good.

"Where have you been?" asked Sonic in a worried tone.

Knuckles remained calm and collected as if Sonic's question was a stupid one. "I've been around town and I need your help with something." said Knuckles in a stern tone.

The cobalt hedgehog raised an eyebrow at the request. "Sure, what is it?" asked Sonic.

Knuckles chuckled at the question and knew that even if he had told him what he wanted, Sonic would either not believe him or not do it. "Follow me." said Knuckles before turning around and running in the opposite direction. Sonic shrugged and followed the red echidna.

Sonic knew that it wasn't going to be good, but it was a good opportunity to talk to Knuckles after such a long time.

Minutes passed by and Knuckles had lead Sonic into the dark, dirty, less inhabited part of Station Square. This part of the great city was where the gangsters were born and where the illegal weapons were sold. Every city needs a bad neighborhood and this was it. Sonic kept at a slower pace then his normal speed, so he could follow Knuckles to wherever he was leading him. Posters filled with meaningless news and underground events covered the walls of the alleyway and some of them fell off of their weak staples and fluttered around on the ground as both of them passed. Accompanying the posters on the wall was graffiti the size of a truck that spelled out some foreign profanity that marked the area, making the alleyway the territory of some street gang. The scent of blood got stronger and it mixed in with the smell of spray paint, making a hideous odor float around in the air, almost making Sonic vomit from the unholy smell.

Sonic didn't like it. Wherever Knuckles was leading him, was probably something important if he had to take Sonic to the slums of Station Square. Knuckles continued to lead the way, but after crossing another empty road, the echidna took a more sneaky approach. Every corner he stopped at and looked around, as if making sure that no one was following him. After sneaking around the dank alleyways, Knuckles lead Sonic into a broken down factory. There was nothing special in the factory, but that wasn't what Knuckles wanted to show Sonic. The echidna ducked under a window and pulled Sonic down with him. The echidna's breath was shallow and sweat was starting to form on his brow making Sonic curious. The hedgehog slowly poked his head out and looked out the window and his jaw dropped open at the horrific sight.

Outside of the factory, in the middle of some destroyed children's playground stood a large fleshy dome the size of an auditorium. It looked as if the planet had some sort of disgusting untreated pimple and it throbbed as if it were some sort of heart. The walls of the disgusting boil were red and fleshy like raw skin and the top of its dome was almost like some transparent covering that looked as if it was ready to pop. Even the floor surrounding it was cracked and covered with disgusting patches that looked like they were compromised of blood and vomit, but seemed to have flesh-like spikes growing out of them. In front of the dome was an odd arch, that was actually a door.

The blue hedgehog dropped back down to Knuckles' level, the same shocked and scared expression on his face, while Knuckles withheld his stone cold one. Sonic's heart was racing, before he thought what disgusting was, now this thing tops everything. Before Sonic could get a word out of his mouth a rebellious roar erupted into the air. Sonic almost jumped onto his feet from the otherworldly sound but was able to keep himself seated.

Both Sonic and Knuckles poked their heads up to see what was happening. In an alleyway across from them, four Egglings slowly strode out of the darkness, each of them dragging two unconscious civilians in each hand. Two of the Egglings barked and growled at each other, as if arguing in their own language, while the other two continued to drag their prizes. Sonic and Knuckles watched as the Egglings walked up to the fleshy dome, the door sliding open with a bloody squelch and walked in.

Sonic hid under the window once again, Sonic's heart still racing. Knuckles on the other hand was on his feet and busy stretching his muscles, in preparation for battle.

"Come on, we need to destroy that thing." said Knuckles in a nonchalant tone, as he continued to stretch his arms.

"What!? Are you crazy?" asked Sonic in a nervous tone. "Do you even know how to take that thing down?"

Knuckles scoffed at the question and smiled for once. "It's easy, you destroy its main organ, it looks like a heart so it's easy to find." said the red echidna normally.

His words confused Sonic greatly and that was a first because this was Knuckles he was talking to. "How'd you know that?"

"I've done this before, did you seriously think I was moping around the city the whole time?" asked Knuckles with a chuckle.

"If you've done this before, then why do you need me!?" asked the panicked hedgehog as he got to his feet and stared into Knuckles' eyes.

Knuckles took a step forward and looked at the disgusting structure. He closed his eyes and exhaled an irritated sigh. "Because the ones I destroyed before were only the size of a shed, this is the first time I've ever seen one this big." He said before turning back around to face Sonic.

The news was shocking for Sonic. If these monstrosities grew from the size of a shed to the size of an auditorium, then there was definitely something wrong. There was no way Sonic was going to do it, but knowing Knuckles, the echidna wouldn't let him off that easily. The cobalt hedgehog let go a depressed sigh and looked back at Knuckles, he was going to help him.

"Are you sure we just can't call the army about this?" asked the hedgehog as he got up and stared at the ugly dome.

In preparation for the attack, the red echidna cracked his knuckles. "After this, if we don't get rid of this thing now, it might get bigger." said the echidna in a serious tone.

No escaping it now, Sonic would definitely have to help Knuckles this time. The blue hero got to his feet and held his very own battle ready expression. He knew that it was his duty to help the planet no matter what the cost. Now he would push the fears and regrets back and use what little bravery he had left to destroy the huge pimple-like structure in the ground. Knuckles looked at the blue hedgehog and grinned.

"Let's get started then." said the eased echidna before a loud stomach churning roar filled the air. Knuckles looked out the window to see four Egglings standing in a group, looking right at him. "They've got out scent, let's go." said the echidna before diving through the window, shattering the glass with a cloud crack.

Right on cue, the four Egglings charged the echidna while Sonic remained in the destroyed structure he hid in. One Eggling took a swing at Knuckles, but the red echidna easily dodged it, the claws barely grazing his fur. Knuckles then unleashed a flurry of punches upon one Eggling, his spikes fists digging deep into the Egglings, creating large holes that leaked ounces of blood that coated both Knuckles' and the Eggling's fur. It looked as if Knuckles was in his element, as if he had killed so brutally before. One Eggling fell to Knuckles' wrath and then the echidna directed his attack to another, while Sonic watched in pure awe.

Another Eggling charged and swung its clawed arm in a wide haymaker-like swing, but it was too slow. The red echidna caught its arm before it hit him and he pulled the Eggling toward him like some, professional street fighter. Knuckles drew his arm back and launched it forward at the incoming Eggling. With the speed and power of a high-powered piston, Knuckles' fist smashed into the Eggling's face, the sound of bones cracking rising into the air. Seconds after the punch, the Eggling slid a couple feet backwards before falling on its back like a sack of potatoes, red viscous liquid leaking from the new gash in its face.

The once white fists were now covered in blood and the red echidna was even redder. Knuckles didn't care though, it was like he'd done this so many times before. Knuckles then turned around to face Sonic. Red blood on red fur, making Knuckles' entire body a color shade of reds that shifted from his normal lighter color to the dark recognizable color of blood.

"What are you waiting for? An Invite?" he asked jokingly.

Sonic stopped watching Knuckles and he jumped through the broken window, the two remaining Egglings, roaring in defiance at the two. He wasn't going to let Knuckles have all the fun. Before the Egglings could even react to Sonic jumping into the battle, the blue hero was already charging at them. In a split nanosecond, Sonic curled into his Spin Dash position and rammed into one of the Egglings, driving it backwards as fast as a roller coaster. His rapid spinning movement cut large gashes into the Eggling's flesh and it released a pained roar. After hearing the dying roar coming from the monster, Sonic screeched to a halt, launching the beast off of him and onto the ground with a large gash in its chest. Not even a droplet of blood covered Sonic though and the hedgehog was thankful for that. He looked at the Eggling he had just killed, a horrified face portraying how it died as more blood leaked into a pool under it.

This was one of those times where Sonic tried to forgive himself for actually killing someone. He rarely did this because most of his enemies were thoughtless robots, or alien beings born with no remorse trying to destroy the world, this was different, this _thing_ used to have a family and friends that loved and cared. A sorrowful looked swept into Sonic's look as he took a split second to think about his actions. The moment of silence was lost as the remaining Eggling jumped up behind him, claw above his head ready to swing it down on the cobalt speedster's head. Sonic looked over his shoulder, mouth open in shock as he tried to jump out of the way, but he knew that he wouldn't make it.

Right before the Eggling's claws could touch a single strand of fur on Sonic's body, a large blood fist crashed into its head, sending it flying to the side. Luckily for Sonic, he had Knuckles to watch his back and the echidna grinned at his own handiwork. He then turned to Sonic and the grin grew wider.

"Heh, you usually get more kills then I do." chuckled the echidna.

The term 'kills' irritated Sonic mildly, but he knew that Knuckles meant no harm. Sonic smiled back and stood back up, taking his courageous stance like the many battles before. He set his stare onto the large, disgusting structure before him and yet again forced himself to not throw up. It only left Sonic wondering how Knuckles could take down so many ugly things without having some sort of mental scar inflicted to him. Sonic gulped loudly showing how nervous he was. He pushed the horrible and disturbing thoughts into the back of his head and forged on.

"You go first, you've done this before." Sonic couldn't do it. He couldn't just rush into deadly places like before. There were things at stake this time and besides, even if he did just rush in, he would have no idea what to do.

A chuckle escaped the echidna's lips. "It's not like you, but alright." He shrugged before charging toward the fleshy doors and Sonic followed suit.

Knuckles charged furiously, his body poised like a tackling football player as he smashed into the doors. The sound of bones snapping filled the air as the doors were smashed open, letting the hedgehog and echidna into the ugly structure. Once inside of the dome Sonic looked around, his mouth open in shock. Lining the walls were countless fleshy pods with transparent shells allowing them to see the Mobians floating around in the unknown substance that surrounded them. All of the civilians were unconscious but some looked direly wounded. Thumping could be heard from within the dome, no, not thumping, beating, like a heart amplified through a large bass player.

Sonic looked around, recognizing some of the people from the missing persons posters that were scattered through the city. He walked up to one of the pods where an unconscious teenage girl floated. The blue hero could see the obvious mutation that was happening to the innocent girl. Instead of normal fingers, claws starting to grow and along her forearm and back, Sonic could barely see the stumps that would turn into large spikes sooner or later. Sonic could tell that this wasn't Eggman, this was the circle of life going around. Animals survive, and reproduce, everyone knows that.

"Yo, get over here. I want you to see this so you know what to do next time you find one of these things." said Knuckles from behind Sonic.

The cobalt hedgehog turned around and found Knuckles standing next to a tall pillar-like structure in the middle of the dome. He strode towards it and found that the pillar was made up of long, red, fleshy, tentacles that wound together and touched the top of the dome. In the middle of the pillar was an oddly shaped object that connected to the pillar. It was like a an orb with a large bump on the upper left and a smaller bump on the bottom right. The odd organ-like object thumped like an actual heart making Sonic cringe at the sight.

"This is it, the Heart of the Eggdome." said Knuckles proudly as he gestured over at the Heart.

"Eggdome?" questioned Sonic as he looked at Knuckles with a grin.

"Yeah, that's what I call 'em." said the echidna normally, with a shrug.

He didn't want to question Knuckles anymore, and he simply went with it. Sonic then turned his attention back on the Heart. It continued to beat rhythmically, fueling the Eggdome with its sinister energy. Was it pumping blood like a normal heart? Or was it actually creating the energy that fed it? Sonic didn't care, he just wanted to get rid of it.

"So what? You just destroy it?" asked Sonic as he looked at the Heart, a curious look on him.

"Pretty much. Stab it, crush it, blow it up, as long as it's destroyed in the end." answered the echidna.

Sonic shrugged, understanding the echidna. "Alright." He said plainly before drawing his arm back in preparation for the punch.

Knuckles smiled as Sonic threw his punch at the Heart, crushing it and creating an ugly gap in it. The beating stopped, and the whole Eggdome seemed to emit a bright light. Neither of the two needed a warning, they knew what was happening. Both of them ran for the door and jumped through the door before the explosion rang throughout the city. A large plume of smoke and fire was coughed into the air as the Eggdome seemingly collapsed into himself. The dust surrounded the duo as they lay on their stomachs, shielding their heads from any shrapnel that might come their way. Nothing hit them other then small pebbles and dust.

After a couple of minutes the dust settled, leaving the hedgehog and echidna covered in a light coat of dust. The area where the Eggdome once occupied, was a large crater with small fires lit within it. It was surprising, it was nostalgic. Sonic remembered all of the times when he ran out of buildings seconds before they exploded. In a matter of fact, Sonic found it cliché. An important building exploding, trying to engulf the hero in flames was something they would use in video games, but Sonic was alright with it.

Both of them got to their feet and tried to wipe some of the dust off. His legs were shaking from the blast, but for some odd reason he wasn't scared anymore. Sonic then turned to face Knuckles and looked at him blankly. "Now we tell the army."


	18. Winds of Change: Part One

**Disclaimer: Sonic and co. © Sega**

**Egglings © Blank the Nobody**

Chapter Seventeen

Winds of Change: Part One

27 Days and 8 Hours before Black Egg Armageddon

* * *

_They knew about the problem and they tried to fix it. Instead they only fed the beast, giving it nothing more then just another snack._

* * *

Everything changed in a matter of days. There was no sun in the sky and instead the blue plain up above was covered in a sea of gray clouds. The smell of engine exhaust and gunpowder was lifted up as silent gales of wind blew by. Large pillars of black smoke were rising up into the air as explosions sounded off, signaling that another Eggdome had been destroyed by the military. After Sonic and Knuckles had reported their findings to the army, things went from placid city streets, to roads guarded by soldiers watching every move with eyes like a hawk's. Some civilians felt safe being watched, but the other half felt as though they were being ruled by some powerful dictator, restricting their movements. They pushed the thoughts into the back of their minds and continued with their average lives, trying to pretend as if the guns weren't pointed at them.

Meanwhile in the slums of Station Square, soldiers were busy finding and destroying Eggdomes that were starting to grow out of nowhere. The days were before were filled with the sounds of explosions, gunshots and the sounds of dying Egglings as the military took action. It was like living in a warzone for the civilians of Station Square. Every night was filled with sounds of war making young children stay up at night, shivering in fear, but did the army care? No. Within another hour, at least three more Eggdomes were destroyed, but for every ugly dome taken down, two more grew to full working capabilities somewhere else in the city.

Somewhere else, near some old closed down school, a squadron of ten soldiers moved up followed by a speedy black blur. Each soldier wore gray fatigues and carried a standard issue assault rifle. They were all nervous, each and every single one of them. If fear was a scent, then the school would be filled with the vile odor. All of them were afraid, except for one and the ironic part is the fact that the only one who wasn't afraid, wasn't even a soldier to begin with.

Leading the squad of soldiers was a black hedgehog holding an assault rifle that matched all of the others. The hedgehog wore a serious frown and his eyes were positioned forward, trying to locate any signs of the enemy. With his amplified senses, he could tell if anything was coming towards them. Nothing, there was no lurking monster trying to find and kill him. It was an odd sight. But anyway he took the blessing in disguise.

"Move up." ordered Shadow strictly before getting to his feet and slowly walking forward down the dusty hallway.

To most people's surprise, Shadow was actually being more outgoing, which made everyone think that he was acting out of character. Usually he would watch on the sidelines, not caring about the fate of the planet. But this time he had a reason to help. He had something to prove. The words Eggman had spat in his face days before had bothered him like an itch that wouldn't go away. Shadow had to prove that he wasn't weak and more importantly he also had to prove that he wasn't scared.

He slowly lead the squadron, as he swung his gun from left to right aiming at things that he suspected to be related to the enemy. The walls were decayed, the paint starting to peel off of the walls. Crayon artwork took up some of the spaces, indicating that the place was an elementary before it was closed down. Shadow took no time to look at the gaudy pictures, because to him, they were just scribbles and lines made by some idiotic child.

After curving around another corner, Shadow and his squadron were met with a pair of double doors. The doors would be their entry point, but their exit point would have to be improvised if need be. Even from in front, Shadow could sense the fear that emanated from the soldiers behind him. Before touching the door he looked behind him so he could see the frightened faces of his soldiers. Instead he found hardened faces ready for battle. The ebony hedgehog scoffed, they were acting for him. He knew that it was normal for a person to hide their fears from other people, but lucky for Shadow, he didn't have to see it, he could just sense it.

"Go full-auto on them, short burst will only slow them down." ordered Shadow before the sounds of guns configuring sounded.

They were like obedient dogs to Shadow. Even though they were all scared, they still obeyed. At any given moment they could have just ran away, but they kept composure. Shadow liked that, it showed that they really wanted to help even though they could lose their lives. The ebony hedgehog didn't know what to file that under. Courageousness in the face of oblivion could easily go under stupidity, but on the other hand, it could also be put under bravery. Shadow didn't care though, to him they were just dogs, waiting to be put down.

After all of the soldiers had gotten ready, Shadow turned around and easily kicked the double doors open. The destroyed doors flung across a concrete floor like a piece of plywood. After a second of airtime the doors slid across the concrete and hit the fleshy wall that made up the Eggdome. All of the soldiers went into firing positions, but none of them pulled the trigger without Shadow's order. In the middle of the concrete basketball court was another large Eggdome bulging with ugly life.

All of them scanned the area to find no signs of hostile activity, making all of the soldiers exhale a sigh of relief mentally. Not for Shadow though. It wasn't normal for an Eggdome to go unguarded, it was unnatural and for a moment he almost thought it was illegal. Leaving a point of such strategic value was crazy and all of them knew that. The soldiers didn't mind though, they thanked whatever god they praised and went along with it, no harm, no foul.

"Stack up on the gates." barked Shadow before all of them moved in unison.

The soldiers divided up into two groups, five soldiers on one side of the gate and five on the other. Shadow on the other hand lowered his weapon and walked up to the gate and stopped a good five feet away from it. The ebony hedgehog then raised his right hand, palm facing the gates and started to concentrate some of his energy. In a matter of seconds, Shadow had gathered enough energy that his entire right hand was glowing with sparks of energy.

"Chaos . . ." began Shadow, his voice nothing but a calm whisper.

A single bead of sweat dropped off one of the soldier's face in anticipation. He was young for a soldier, he was too scared to be in the army, and at that moment, he definitely didn't want to die on the battlefield.

"Spear!" A large bolt of energy leapt from Shadow's hand and smashed into the fleshy gates.

Instead of being torn away, a large hole was burned into the gates by Shadow's immense power. Smoke rose into the air and all of the soldiers forced themselves not to throw up as the smell of burning skin filled the air around them. The ebony hedgehog didn't mind though, for him burning flesh was like the scent of roses on a nice Summer day. After the smoke had cleared Shadow walked into the Eggdome, finding that there were no Egglings inside. Something wasn't right. No Egglings guarding outside, none inside. Shadow didn't like it.

All around him were civilian bodies floating around in their transparent pods, waiting to be turned into the monsters that he captured them. Soldiers rushed in after him and took out their sticks of C4. The ebony hedgehog watched as the soldiers affixed the deadly bars of plastic to the Heart and set the timer. In a matter of seconds, the squad had hooked up and set, three sticks of C4 and were now leaving the Eggdome. Instead of running with them, Shadow walked out of the Eggdome, knowing that he had only mere seconds before the explosives would go off. He was a couple feet away from the entrance before the sound of rapid beeping emanated from the explosives behind him, telling Shadow that he only had a couple of seconds before they went off. Seconds before the explosives went off, Shadow seemingly teleported next to the squadron of soldiers that was accompanying him.

A large plume of smoke and fire raised into the sky as chunks of flesh flew everywhere. The horrible smell of burnt flesh and rotten blood filled the air, making some of the soldiers cough and hack from the obnoxious smell.

One of the soldiers took out a walkie-talkie from his pack and turned it on. "HQ this is Alpha-Foxtrot, objective complete, heading back to base for debriefing, over." said the soldier in an exhausted tone before releasing a sigh of relief.

"Alright, but before you head out, give Shadow your walkie, soldier. The general has a special mission for him, over." said the operator in a clam tone.

The soldier shrugged and ordered all of his squad mates to get ready. He then handed the tiny radio to Shadow and chuckled. "Good luck." He said, trying to be nice.

Shadow swiped the walkie-talkie out of the soldier's hands and walked off without another word. The soldier scoffed at Shadow's lack of kindness and led the squadron back to base. He didn't need Shadow's kindness at all, besides, he just wanted to get back to base so he could relax. Shadow continued to walk down the street . With the flick of a switch, the ebony hedgehog turned on the walkie. He lifted the receiver up to his head as he continued to walk.

"This is Shadow, over." He said normally as he walked.

The radio buzzed and fizzed with feedback before finally getting hooked up with the general. "Sup, this is General Dacote Junta, over." said the laid back general.

Right after hearing the nonchalant general, Shadow stopped in his tracks. What kind of military leader leads like some teenage hooligan? Was the army really in need of leaders that they'd just get some random guy off of the streets? For a second he thought he was getting pranked somehow, but trusted the General . Shadow shook the thoughts off and got back to business.

"What do you want?" asked Shadow coldly skipping the military lingo, as he looked at the desolate roads.

The general laughed. "Well, it would be ruining the surprise if I told you. But I need you to head over to Twinkle Park. You're gonna have to see it to believe it." said the General in a playful tone, before turning off the connection.

Shadow sighed, he didn't like having things hidden from him. But he was used to it though. After doing the bidding of villains, killing people without flinching and almost killing Sonic, Shadow was used to a lot of things. The hedgehog closed his eyes for a second as he tried to remember the location of Twinkle Park. After living for so long Shadow was surprised he was able to remember anything. Seconds passed before he finally pinpointed the location in his mind and he was off. The scenery around him raced past him as he ran at his high speeds. He wasn't the type of person that would absorb his surroundings, everything was starting to look the same to him and he was starting to not care.

After rounding around another corner, Shadow charged forward, even though there was a tall building in front of him. The ebony hedgehog made contact with the building, but instead of smashing through the walls, he planted one foot on it and started running up its walls. He ran up and made it to the top, his feet moving forward and avoiding any obstacles in front of him, like air vents and air conditioners. He knew he was getting close because the sounds of howling and barking was starting to get louder. The black hedgehog then stopped abruptly, his eyes gazing down on the horrible mess that roared and howled below.

His eyes stared down on the mess that used to be Twinkle Park, the rides were all torn down and unused, the merry-go-round was covered with red fleshy tentacles that looked like nerves and the roller coasters were red with rust. After Eggman had kidnapped Tails, Twinkle Park had been closed down because everyone knew that a more populated place would be an easy target. Down below almost fifty Egglings roared and jumped around in front of their shrine. In front of the mob of creatures was a large Eggdome, bigger then all of the others. This Eggdome grew off of the amusement park's Ferris wheel like some infected growth. It was almost as tall as the Ferris wheel, but stopped a few gondolas short from fully devouring the structure. All of the Egglings were gathered in front of the giant boil's doors, waiting for something to come out. It was as if they were rallying together under their leader and Shadow had a good idea on who that leader would be.

A loud hiss filled the air as the fleshy gates slowly started to open up, a bright light shining through from the inside of the structure. Shadow watched as the gates opened up all the way revealing a broad silhouette still standing within the dome. There was no question to who it was because Shadow could see that the figure was brawny and masculine to a high degree. It was like watching some cliché sequel where you knew who the bad guy was before they could even reveal his face. And not to Shadow's surprise, Eggman strode out of the dome, but even with that, Shadow could see that there were some major changes to the doctor.

Eggman was still large and brawny and the same psychotic smile adorned his face, but that wasn't the thing bothering Shadow. From the black hedgehog's point of view, he could see that there was no more humanity left in the man's eyes anymore. All he could see was rage and insanity floating around the doctor's eyes, brimming with raw power. There was something new though. He had some odd metal plating embedded in his shoulder with a large cylinder-like container coming out holding a strange black liquid. The fluid looked as if it was fuelling him somehow. But that would be too obvious, maybe it was a decoy to make him think it was his source of power. Or maybe it was actually reverse psychology. Eggman was a very complex person, trying to predict his plans are sometimes incredibly easy, but sometimes they're extremely hard to do. The doctor walked out of the grotesque dome briskly and smiled at the crowd that gathered before him. The ebony hedgehog could tell that he was enjoying himself.

"Good evening ladies and gentlemen!" said Eggman in a booming voice so his underlings could hear.

Loud whooping and roaring entered the air as the Egglings responded to their new master. This was weird. Days before, the Egglings hated and disobeyed the doctor, now they were eating out of the palm of his hand. Whatever Eggman had done, had worked and now he had full control over the bloodthirsty beasts.

"In a couple of days we will launch our attack!" said Eggman as if he were some powerful god.

Yet another wave of encouragement flood out of the Egglings at the announcement as if they could understand Eggman completely. He walked back and forth his eyes set on the Egglings. As he walked, he twitched a lot for some reason, Shadow didn't take that into mind much.

"But before then, we have a special guest here today!" he yelled as his smile grew wider.

Shadow stared at him, wondering if there was some secret accomplice he didn't know about. It would make sense if there was. The doctor would combine his intelligence with someone else's. It woldn't be a surprise, but the hedgehog knew that after being backstabbed so many times that maybe Eggman would learn. Then again, maybe he did and it was a trick. If only Ivo didn't have much of a complex mind, then predicting the man's next move would be much easier.

"Please, put your claws together for Shadow the hedgehog!" seconds after saying his name, Eggman thrust his arms so his palms were facing Shadow. Two fleshy tentacles shot out of the doctor's palms and extended out toward Shadow at shocking speeds.

The two tentacles smashed into nothing but concrete, as Shadow ran down the building in order to dodge the attack. This was some entirely different. The tentacles were long and grotesque with a skin-like color to them, and the spikes at the tips looked as if they were made of bone. Whatever gross chemical changes happening to Eggman was something Shadow would have to put to the side however, right now he was standing face-to-face with a horde of Egglings, growling with excitement. He clenched his fists, finding that he had dropped his gun on the way down to the ground. Lead and gunpowder, he didn't need it, he just found it useful when he didn't want to put much effort in it.

Instead of charging him all at once, the crowd parted into two, as the doctor walked through the middle. Even with the low growling, the madman's chuckling could be heard. The long disgusting tentacles retracted back into his palms, the wounds healing closed as the boney tips slipped back into his body. The large canister holding the black liquid, on his back seemed to bubble and stir as he walked toward the hedgehog signaling some sort of change in the doctor internally.

"Wow, to be honest with you Shadow, I wasn't really expecting you. I saw you like forty seconds before I gave my speech." said Eggman, still chuckling, his head twitching from side to side at some times.

Shadow glared at the doctor coldly. "What's going on with you?" he asked in an almost careless tone.

"Oh nothing, just the normal genetic mutation when you get bitten by your own creations, other then that, nothing much." shrugged the doctor, as if the information wasn't disturbing at all.

This was news though. Shadow had no idea that Eggman was bitten before. But why would Eggman blatantly reveal this to him? Yet again Shadow was thrown into one of his own mental debates, trying to tell if this was Eggman's plan or just a sign of his insanity growing. It was as if Eggman was deploying some mental tactic without even knowing it. But before the black hedgehog could get more time to think about it, the doctor, asked a question that really made him angry.

"So Shadow, are you still hiding your fear from everyone?" asked Eggman, as if teasing the hedgehog.

That word hit Shadow like a ton of bricks. Not only did it ruin his train of thought, it angered him. Eggman was basically pouring salt on Shadow's wound now and like any other person, he didn't like it. An enraged look washed onto the ebony hedgehog's face as he stared at Eggman. The doctor smiles grew wider from the sight, knowing what he had just done.

"I'll take that as a yes." said the doctor slyly, as if answering the question for Shadow.

Only seconds after saying those words, Shadow vanished from his spot, making Eggman chuckle silently. In the blink of an eye Shadow reappeared in front of Eggman's face, the hedgehog's legs off the ground and arm pulled back. With the force of an incoming train, the black hedgehog launched his violently launching his fist forward. A loud thud erupted into the air, as the powerful punch slammed against the doctor's arms that were crossed in front of him in a guarding position. But with such force, Eggman only slid a couple yards backwards from the strike.

Once Shadow's feet hit the ground, all of the Egglings were ready to leap onto to him, but they were stopped abruptly.

"Stop! All of you!" yelled Eggman, as he stood up straight, his face different this time and instead held a more serious façade.

All of the Egglings stopped and growled angrily. Shadow could tell that they all wanted to tear him apart, but they also knew that if they disobeyed their master they would die. The black anti-hero then moved his stare over to Eggman. He was curious about Eggman's goal now. If he wanted to win, then he would definitely let the Egglings jump in. But why stop them?

"What are you doing? I thought you wanted to win." he said, wondering what Eggman would gain by not letting his minions kill him.

The doctor chuckled. "I do, but on my own terms. And besides, those two buffoons will have their hands full as we fight." said the doctor simply as he pointed past the crowd of Egglings.

Shadow followed the doctor's point and found that in the distance, two figures were charging the horde. They were familiar figures and Shadow exhaled an irritated sigh as he finally recognized the two.

"We're coming Shads! We got the General's call!" yelled Sonic over the horde of Egglings as he continued his charge.

Next to the blue hero was Knuckles and the two of them fearlessly raced forward. One Egglings jumped in Sonic's way and the blue hedgehog tackled him before noticing that he had lead Knuckles right into the center of the horde. They wanted to help, but Shadow didn't need help and those two knew that. Eggman was right though, the horde would keep them busy while he fought Eggman which was a good thing. Shadow took a step forward, and prepared to fight. He wasn't going to go easy on him anymore.

Eggman could sense the shifting power in the air and smiled. Today was going to be filled with surprises and he knew it. "Let the fun begin."


	19. Winds of Change: Part Two

**Disclaimer: Sonic and co. © Sega**

**Anubis Shenrus and Egglings © Blank the Nobody**

Chapter Eighteen

Winds of Change: Part Two

27 Days and 7 Hours before Black Egg Armageddon

* * *

_Everything and everyone was changing all around me. My friends, the people, the city and worst of all, my enemy._

* * *

The air was doused with the smell of foul blood while the sounds of battle raged on the streets below. A loud crash filled the air suddenly, making a flock of birds fly off of their perches in pure terror. As the birds flew away, a small plume of gray smoke rose into the air along with the new smell of gasoline. There was another crash, then an enraged yell as a large brawny doctor was slammed against a large tank filled with the flammable liquid.

The doctor stood in the middle of a gas station, not caring that the place might explode at any given moment. Under him, a large pool of gasoline, making the air smell horrible as the scent of gas mixed in with the smell of blood. He stared at the hedgehog in front of him, a large psychotic smile on his face like before. So far he was enjoying his battle with Shadow and the fact that he was irritating the hedgehog while fighting made everything worthwhile.

Shadow could see the maniacal smirk on the doctor's face and he wanted to wipe it off like some smudge on a window. In order to do that, the hedgehog raised his hand at the doctor, palm facing his brawny body as small sparks of energy started to flicker from finger to finger. He concentrated his power and anger into the palm of his hand, making his hand glow brighter and brighter every second.

"Chaos . . ." he began as he continued to gather more and more energy.

Eggman braced himself for the attack that was soon to come. He had survived the attack once before, but with the gasoline on the ground around him as a new variable, he wanted to know how his body would fare against the Chaos Empowered attack with gasoline and fire. The doctor watched as the hedgehog charged his attack, he wasn't going to disrupt Shadow, he wanted to test Shadow while at the same time, scaring him with his strength.

"Lance!"

A large yellow bolt of immense power was sent hurdling toward Eggman. The attack smashed into the doctor's body, igniting the gas under him and destroying the large tank of gas behind him, creating a large fiery explosion that engulfed Ivo completely. Shadow watched as the flames danced around in front of him, the explosion barely touching him. The hedgehog's face felt warm as waves of heat radiated from the giant inferno in front of him. He searched through the flames, trying to find any hints remains of Eggman.

"Well, I admit that hurt, but we all know that you can do better then that." said a familiar voice from within the fire.

Shadow could sense a sudden spike in energy and the hedgehog jumped to the left as a large fist came barreling out of the flames. The Black Blur landed on his feet, as the doctor came to a halt, small flames still burning some patches of skin before dying out. The hedgehog stared at the doctor's burnt body and smoking body, wondering how the man had survived. Eggman's skin had large patches of burnt, black skin that leaked blood profusely. A large burn that covered half of Eggman's face, revealing all of the muscle tissue and bloodstreams under what used to be flesh and yet his mustache and glasses remained intact.

"Lighting gasoline!? Creative yes, but something I've never seen, no! Try something other then some cheap movie stunt." taunted the doctor as his flesh started to heal rapidly.

Shadow didn't respond and instead scoffed at Eggman's remark. He didn't care if his attacks were some action movie cliché, all he cared about was winning. The hedgehog watched as all of Eggman's burns healed slowly. Every black burn wound lightened up and turned back into normal skin; and his blood was absorbed back into his body. His injuries were gone within seconds and he looked like a new man. The doctor then cracked his knuckles, as he prepared to retaliate.

"Let's end this." said Shadow coldly, before disappearing from his spot with a blur of black streaks.

After watching the hedgehog vanish suddenly, the doctor chuckled slightly. "Fine, but there's one thing," he said before swinging around to face his left side. As if on cue, Shadow appeared right in front of him, a serious look on his face, but after seeing Eggman staring directly at him, the seriousness was wiped off and replaced with a surprised one. "I can trace your movements now." He grinned before launching his large beefy fist forward.

Before Shadow could respond, the rock hard fist slammed into him. The weight pushing on Shadow's body was so hard that it felt like he was being hit by an incoming train, and the hedgehog could feel some of his ribs breaking from the impact. Small droplets of blood escaped Shadow's lips as he flew off of Eggman's fist sending him flying backwards. Seconds later, his body slammed into a strong brick wall. Blood was starting to leak out of the black hedgehog's mouth and trace down his chin as he looked with one eye at his strong opponent.

"_What the hell is happening to him?" _wondered Shadow as his limp body began to slide off of the wall.

Eggman wouldn't let Shadow get off that easy though. Only centimeters away from the ground, Eggman appeared in front of Shadow and pinned the hedgehog against the wall. Pain stung at Shadow's body as the broken ribs were jostled and moved around from within his body. Instead of holding his serious look, a pained expression took on the hedgehog's face instead. The pain that the doctor was infliction on the black blur made, the madman giggle with glee. After so long, he was finally able to make Shadow feel actual physical pain, instead of shaking his foundations with some coarse mind game or barely scratching him with a 'weak as paper' robot.

"Fighting with you gets boring at times you know that?" asked the doctor playfully. "No matter what I do you never say a single word." Eggman applied more pressure on the hedgehog's body, making Shadow scream in pain. "There we go! That's what I want to hear!" said the doctor joyously.

The brick wall behind Shadow was starting to crack under the intense weight being applied to it. Luckily for him though, he couldn't feel any more bones breaking and instead felt a strong numbness overtake his entire chest. Maybe his body was so damaged that pain no longer mattered anymore. And for the first time in his life, Shadow cared. His breathing was starting to get shorter and at a more rapid pace as he could feel death slowly take his body. In front of him he could see the doctor's evil grin staring right back at him and he wished he had the power to rip it right off his disgusting face.

Shadow's vision blurred into nothing but darkness and the only thing he could hear was the thumping of his own heart, as it started to gradually get slower and slower. After a couple of seconds in the darkness, there was nothing. There was no sound of his heart beating and no more pain, just Shadow floating along in the large, dark abyss with no more restrictions. He didn't like it at all. It wasn't because he knew he was alone, it was because he knew that he had been defeated by Eggman of all people. He sighed woefully as his body was carried by an invisible current within the darkness. After so long, he knew that the 'place filled with clouds and angels' would be the last place he would end up in.

But to his surprise, up ahead he saw a bright light. A shocked look swept across the hedgehog's face as he willed himself to float toward the light. As he started to get closer to the shimmering light, he could feel a wave of warmth cover his body. It was soothing and delightful and Shadow wanted to get there as fast as he could. At first he thought he was getting closer, but after a while he finally figured out that he wasn't moving at all.

"Shadow? Is that you?" asked a familiar female voice from the light.

The hedgehog stopped at the voice, recognizing it immediately. "Rouge?"

Suddenly a ghostly apparition of Rouge appeared in front of Shadow. The bat looked perfectly fine and amazingly surprised. She was transparent to some degree, but Shadow could definitely feel her presence from within the darkness. He stared at her, finding that she was definitely shocked at something, he just didn't know what it was.

"You're not . . . HELL NO! You can't be dead!" yelled Rouge as she grabbed Shadow by the shoulders and shaking him around violently.

Shadow was shaken around like some ragdoll by the frantic bat. He had no idea how to respond to the situation. At first, he thought he would be subjected to nothing more then a dark abyss, then Rouge comes along and changes everything. The black hedgehog got Rouge to let go of him and the Black Blur assumed his more serious stance. It could've been pure coincidence, but Shadow would take control of the situation somehow.

"Isn't it obvious? I'm dead." He said plainly.

Rouge laughed at the statement. "You can't die Shadow." said the bat as she continued to laugh.

She was right though. His story wasn't going to end on a low note, it would be too sudden if he were to die. Everyone knew that if there were to be some major disaster, either Sonic or Shadow would be the only ones left, because of their strength and experience. If for some reason the two were to call some truce, then there would also be a probability that they would both survive. After a while of hysterical laughing, Rouge finally calmed down and looked at Shadow, but the hedgehog could tell that she was still holding back more laughs.

"You have to help save the world, Shadow. You can't just sit back." she said trying to hold down her laughter.

"I can't though, Eggman's too strong" replied Shadow in an exhausted tone.

"Then you and Sonic will have to learn the same lesson." She said with a pout.

Her words confused Shadow. Sonic and Shadow were two entirely different people except for the fact that they're hedgehogs and they can run fast. Both of them had different morals and mental strengths and weaknesses. Where Sonic would be carefree and easygoing, Shadow would be hard-hitting and serious. At almost all times their personalities conflicted with each other, and they learned from each other. If they were to both learn the same thing, then that would mean that they would both be missing some large piece of information.

"What would that be?" asked Shadow, but deep inside his mind he knew that Rouge wouldn't tell him.

Rouge giggled at the question. "Now if I told you that, where would the fun be?" she asked jokingly. She then floated up close to Shadow and pushed him backwards. "Besides, even if I told you, then you wouldn't believe me." She said.

The ebony hedgehog floated backwards slowly, before noticing that he was being sucked into something. He looked behind him to see a large white portal, swirling with power. He didn't want to go, there was still information he needed to get from Rouge. Shadow fought the suction of the portal, trying to get back to Rouge.

"Wait!" he yelled trying to grab something that wasn't there.

"Tell that Knucklehead to give Eggy a good punch for me." she said, before blowing him a kiss.

Shadow was close to having his entire body sucked into the portal, but Rouge suddenly jerked upright, as if remembering something suddenly. The bat then grabbed Shadow's hand, keeping his face from being sucked into the portal.

"I almost forgot. Maria says 'hi.'"

Rouge then let go and before he knew it, Shadow was immersed in the portals white light and Rouge and Maria were out of sight. As he drifted backwards into the portal, his chest started to hurt and his breathing was starting to get shallower and shallower. He knew where he was going and wished that he didn't have to go back at all. His sight was then bathed in nothing but white as the sounds of battle filled his eardrums.

"Hey! Get off him!" yelled a familiar male voice.

Shadow's eyes sprung open to the sight of Eggman getting punched in face by an angry red echidna. The doctor released Shadow from his crushing pin and the hedgehog slid off of the cracked brick wall. Before falling to the ground, a speedy blue blur appeared under him and caught him gently.

"Gotcha." said the relieved Sonic.

Eggman fell to the ground but put a hand in front of him for support. The doctor then hauled himself onto his feet and stared at Shadow with the same psychotic smile. There was a hint of curiosity in the doctor's eyes and all three of them could tell. He walked forward, but Knuckles growled, making him stop.

"Shadow, I'm surprised. Your heart stopped, and yet for some magical reason, it started up again. What are you? Some fairytale reject?" he taunted before laughing.

Sonic looked at Shadow with a surprised look. It was obvious that the blue hero had never seen someone come back to life. Shadow on the other hand was just as surprised as he was. It actually wasn't that surprising though. Shadow could've probably named a couple more occasions when Sonic had suddenly come back from the grave, but Sonic couldn't recall any occasions where Shadow had been revived. In his mind, Shadow thought that seeing Rouge was a dream, he never actually thought he had actually died.

"You alright?" asked Sonic, as he could see the blood coming out of the edges of Shadow's mouth.

Shadow fought back the urge to yell in discomfort and simply said. "I'm fine."

Eggman could easily tell that Shadow was lying. The doctor knew how much damage he had caused internally to the dark hedgehog and he knew that he wouldn't last very long with the crushed internal organs. At any moment the burly Eggman could have easily teleported next to the injured Shadow and killed him, but he knew that it would be too boring and easy. He wanted a challenge and so far the only person he saw as a threat was Shadow. Sonic was getting close to the same level of power, but was still a bit far off and Knuckles was nothing more then an enraged oaf. But even with the facts, Eggman still wanted blood and he wanted it badly

"Well, Shadow, let's finished this." said the doctor wickedly before taking another step forward.

Knuckles got up, about to charge Eggman head on with all of his rage. But before the doctor could take another step forward he stopped and let out a pained yell. He got down on one knee as he tried to grab something on his back. Knuckles, Sonic and Shadow could see the broken glass canister that once held the doctor's strange black liquid. Shadow knew that he must've destroyed the ooze with his Chaos Lance, but he never would've thought that it would take such a serious toll on Eggman.

"Lucky you." he hissed as blood started to come out of his mouth. "A bit anticlimactic, but I've got to run." said the doctor before teleporting away using his last bits of strength.

The angry echidna got up, looking around for any signs of Eggman.

"Knuckles stop!" cried Sonic, still holding onto Shadow. "We need to get Shadow some help." He said, trying to be the good friend.

The black hedgehog got off of Sonic and tried to stand up straight. He didn't need help. He needed some time alone. Sonic tried to stop Shadow from leaving, but the hedgehog left in a blur of black and streaks. Sonic was about to follow after him, but he knew it would be impossible to convince him to come to a hospital after what had happened. The Blue Blur then sighed worriedly and looked at Knuckles. There was still more work to be done around the city, still more soldiers that needed support. Without exchanging another word, Sonic and Knuckles were off to go aid another squadron. As the two ran, Knuckles just had to say something.

"No rest for the weary, eh?"

* * *

**Three Hours Later**

Night crept by slowly and the moon illuminated the night with a shade of gray. The streets were covered with shadows and moonlight as the occasional burning building lit up with a shade of orange light. Below, the clinking and clattering of Egglings running through the shadows silently rose into the air. Along with the sounds of the night was a pained grunting and groaning as a certain black hedgehog pushed his broken ribs back into place.

Shadow sat down on the edge of the rooftop, watching the nighttime sky as he continued to push his bones back into place. It was a painful process, but it would have to suffice until he could steal some medical equipment from one of the closed down hospitals in the area. His white gloves had some faded blotches of blood and he couldn't feel anything in the left part of his chest, he was injured badly, but like a stubborn dog, he refused to let up.

"My god, do you ever admit that you need help?" asked a familiar voice.

A long piece of bandage suddenly began to wrap around Shadow's body like a snake. It didn't squeeze the life out of him and instead wrapped his entire abdomen up and brought a comforting feeling to his chest, as if he was slowly being healed. After his entire chest was wrapped up with the magical bandages, a shirtless jackal walked up next to Shadow and sat next to him.

"Why do you always come at night to talk to me?" asked Shadow coldly as he continued to watch the radiant moon.

Anubis chuckled at the question and knew for a fact that he had to be there with Shadow. It was something he had found out when he was working with him before.

"I'm the only one you can talk to Shadow. When something happens, good or bad, I'm pretty much the only one you can talk to." said the jackal smartly. "You can't talk to Sonic on a serious level, Knuckles wouldn't understand a word you'd say, Tails doesn't care much for you and Rouge is dead. Face it, I'm the only one you can confess your feelings to."

Shadow scoffed at the statement and yet he understood it fully. Out of all of the people he knew, there was no one else Shadow could talk to. Everyone else would single him out as the cold, uncaring hedgehog, but not Anubis. The jackal was either amazingly brave or incredibly stupid to find the patience to talk with the black hedgehog. But deep within his heart, Shadow enjoyed company. Both of them watched the moon as the sounds of gunfire sounded off in the distance, telling both of them that there was still rest at night.

"You know, an undead army would make this so much easier." joked the jackal, remembering Shadow's decision from the days before.

"I told you my answer already, Anubis." replied the distraught hedgehog as the soothing sensation from the bandages eased his pain even further.

"Yeah, yeah. You've got to keep your reputation and all of that cold, bad-ass crap. Save it for Sonic and the others 'cuz you know damn well that it won't work on me." said Anubis with a relaxed chuckle.

Both of them shared a cheap laugh for once. Shadow was comfortable around Anubis because he was like him in a way. The jackal's family has been dead for a long time, they both are the leaders of their team, neither age, both of them need to make sure that they don't look weak in front of their peers and they both hated Sonic the hedgehog. The only difference was the fact that Anubis was able to cope with other people other then pushing them away, like Shadow. The laughing died down and the silence ensued once again.

"So . . . what now?" asked Anubis out of nowhere.

The hedgehog turned his confused gaze onto the jackal, not fully understanding the question. "What do you mean?" he asked.

"What are you going to do about Eggman? Based off of your injuries, he's obviously too strong for you to handle." said Anubis as he positioned his gaze on Shadow's damaged chest.

A frustrated sigh escaped Shadow's lip at the question. "I was holding back, you know that. But either way, I think we're an even match." He said.

"The Chaos Emeralds?" inquired Anubis.

"We don't have much time to scour the world looking for them. Besides, even if we did, the world would've gone to hell by then." answered the frustrated hedgehog.

"So I guess you're going to have to wing it, huh?" asked Anubis as he leaned back on the concrete rooftop.

"I guess so." answered the hedgehog.

He was right. Unless Tails or the army could come up with a plan, everything would just have to be done by pure instinct alone. As Shadow stared at the moon he wondered what was going to happen to the world. Would Eggman finally take over the world after so long? Or would Sonic pull off a miracle and defeat him one again? The ebony hedgehog wished he had the ability to tell the future, so he can prepare for what is to come, but he knew that it would be impossible to do so. Everything was starting to change around him, for the better, or for the worst.

* * *

**So I hope you understand why I put Anubis is this story. He's the only guy who Shadow can relate to and talk to in a normal talking sort of way. Because when Shadow talks to the other characters it usually an argument, a sappy conversation, or discussing a plan. But with Anubis, it's a normal conversation. If you don't like Anubis, then you're going to have to get used to him for about one more chapter.**


	20. Happy Homecoming

**Disclaimer: Sonic and co. © Sega**

**Egglings © Blank the Nobody**

Chapter Nineteen

Happy Homecoming

20 Days and 7 Hours before Black Egg Armageddon

* * *

_When we had found Tails I was devastated, but when I heard that he had saved her life I was so happy._

* * *

Bright rays of sun light shone through clean windows as nurses and doctors walked around inside of the hospital. Luckily for the doctors, there wasn't as many people from the army because of the governments own medical stations around the city. This was one of the only operating hospitals where normal people could go for help, instead of the ones ruled by the government. Everything operated smoothly, doctors moved from patient to patient and nurses administered pain-killers to the ones in need. There were some cases Eggling related, but none too serious for the medical staff to handle.

As everyone continued to work, a happy golden fox walked through the linoleum hallways. Around him, the adults in white coats walked, talking to other nurses or reviewing a chart that had their patient's status. In the fox's hand was a small, glass vase with a single rose within it and it was obvious who he was going to visit. After passing through another hallway, the fox turned left to Room 165 and opened the door.

Behind the door was a room illuminated with rays of radiant sunshine. Against the wall on the left was a bed with white sheets and pillows and lying on the bed was a placid looking rabbit. Ms. Vanilla wasn't there that day because she had another date with Vector again and the croc seemed to be the only person who she could talk to during this tough time. Tails placed the vase on the windowsill, next to the other flowers and get well cards before sitting down. He released a sigh of relief and leaned back in his seat.

"So how are you today?" asked Tails, knowing that he wouldn't get a response.

He wasn't in denial, and he wasn't crazy, he just thought that talking to her would take some stress off instead of just sitting there silently with an unresponsive rabbit. Tails could hear the steady beep of the heartbeat monitor as he stared at Cream who looked beautiful to him in her everlasting sleep. No, he didn't want to call it 'everlasting sleep' because he knew that an everlasting sleep could only be death. Tails had to focus on as many positive thoughts as he could, but it was impossible with everything that was going on around him.

After a couple of minutes of sitting in the silence, Tails sunk in his seat, saddened by the thought of Eggman winning for once. At first it seemed impossible because of the doctor's ignorance and record of other failed plans, but this time the doctor looked like he was on a roll. Sonic was undergoing some tough mental beatings, Knuckles seemed to be sinking to Eggman's level of craziness, Amy was starting to feel weak without her hero and Shadow was losing his grip on his serious stance. Everything seemed to be falling apart around Tails and it was all planned by this new and deadlier Robotnik.

Tails sat there, his foot starting to tap rhythmically to music that wasn't there as he tried to find something that would take up the time. Before the day had started he thought that his visit to the hospital would be easy, but after seeing Cream again, thoughts started to buzz around in his head. He couldn't decide whether he should leave to go do something else or stay there with his love. His one last tail swiveled around behind him as he thought about his next move. After so long he was able to control his tail, but without the other his flying days were over.

The doorknob turned slowly, as if the person opening the door was nervous, or better yet afraid. Tails looked up to see the door slowly open up. Behind the door was a nervous pink hedgehog and Tails instantly recognized the girl.

"Amy?" called Tails as he stood up to make sure he was addressing the right person.

The hedgehog stopped in her tracks, surprised at that someone had called her name. She looked over at the fox and released a relieved sigh. "Tails, I didn't know you'd be here." she said.

A smile creased across the fox's lips as he began to walk toward the hedgehog. It had been so long since he had seen and he was happy to see her again. Tails embraced Amy in a hug and the two felt comfortable with each other, even though Amy was with Sonic. Amy released the fox from her hug and smiled at him.

"I haven't seen you in days!" she said happily, her eyes brimming with happiness.

"Me neither, you look fantastic!" commented Tails.

Even after so long, Amy was still able to uphold her beautiful body the same and it was awkward in a sense. Both of them were happy to see each other in a place where both of them expected to be sad. It was something out of nowhere, but both of them needed the drop of joy. The two left the room to go into another sitting room so they could talk without bothering Cream's slumber. The two talked about how Tails was coping with his remaining tail, how Knuckles' mental health seemed to be deteriorating, and how Shadow was still able to play the role of bad-ass while hiding his sensitive core. After a while, they started to get down the gritty subjects. Like how the army was taking over in a cruel way, and how Eggman was starting to win. Not before long, the two had run out of topics to chatter on about and a silence overcame them.

"Sooooo, have you seen Sonic in the past couple of days?" asked Amy, trying to scrape up another topic for the two to talk about.

"Not really, the last time I saw him was when Cream got back. I think he's been helping the army get rid of those Eggdomes." answered the fox, remembering all of the military personnel marching into town and setting up stations. Tails was asked to help the military and he took up the offer whole heartedly. Now the fox was helping the governments greatest minds find a way to combat the Eggling threat, while doing the thing they do best, lie.

The military was selling lies to the public like always. Instead of telling everyone the truth, they sugarcoated it and made it seem like they were winning. The Eggdomes weren't going away, they were increasing in number faster then the army could take them down. But that was how the government could keep control. They would rather lie and keep peace, instead of tell the truth and live in utter chaos. Amy sighed, she wanted to see Sonic again and for a second she thought about joining the army just for that reason.

"Man! We were so close to finally dating to!" she complained.

"What? Were you going to ask him again, or is he finally giving in?" asked Tails in a curious tone.

For some reason, the news was surprising and yet at the same time, not a surprise. Everyday Amy would conjure up some fantasy of Sonic asking her out on a date, but seeing how Sonic was going through some tough times, Tails wouldn't be surprised if the hedgehog was leaning on Amy's shoulder for comfort.

Amy giggled at the question. "Actually, I think he's gonna ask me for once." she said, still giggling.

Tails joined in Amy's laughter. Things were starting to change. Whether it was on the battlefield or behind the curtain, and Tails was beginning to like the change. After changing to the topic of Sonic, they both started to share even more stories. Like how Sonic had saved Amy so many times and how Tails would have to build some new weapon to tackle another one of Eggman's weapons. There was a whole archive about Sonic that the two could explore together and they were intent on doing so. Minutes passed as the talked and before the two could jump onto the subject of Sonic and his inability to swim, a commotion started up in the next room that startled them both.

"Yo! Crash Cart Room 165!" yelled a female voice from another room.

Both Tails and Amy looked at each other with shocked looks. "That's Cream's room!" they said in unison. Both of them sprung out of their seats and ran toward the rabbit's room, both of their hearts racing.

Once there, both of them were greeted with horror. A female black panther charged up the defibrillator while nurses looked at the monitors that showed no sign of a heart beat. The black panther doctor wore army fatigues telling both Amy and Tails that she was working at the hospital voluntarily and the doctor's eyes were focused on the matter at hand. The loud buzz of the medical instruments from the paddles whined as the defibrillator charged up energy.

"Clear!" she yelled before placing them on Cream's chest and releasing the energy.

Tails watched as Cream's body twitched upwards from the shock, but the reading still showed a straight green line, still no heartbeat. The panther was determined though and she charged up again as one of the nurses checked the readings over and over again, making sure there were no errors.

"Come on damn it! Clear!" yelled the panther before pressing the paddles against Cream's body again.

Instead of the thump of the paddles releasing energy, the sound of electrical whizzing and crackling came from the box that powered the instruments, before a loud pop came from the metal instrument. Tails watched as the box started to smoke profusely as one of the nurses tried to get the thing to work again.

"Son of a-! I need another defibrillator over here stat!" yelled the female panther, her green eyes showing impatience and frustration.

"No keep going!" yelled a familiar voice.

The panther looked over at the crash cart, as goldish-yellow fox started to unfasten the top of the defibrillator's box. Tails looked at the inside of the machine, instantly finding the problem like a yellow spot and a white wall. Amy watched as Tails tinkered with the machine rapidly and she wished she could help in some way. Sadly she had no experience in medicine or with technology and she felt useless as she watched the fox work. Tails gently removed and reattached some faulty wiring quickly, sweat starting to form on his brow before reattaching another wire. Anyone could tell that he didn't want to lose Cream.

"Try it again!" he said suddenly, thinking that he had solved the problem.

Without hesitation, the panther charged the paddles again, the high pitched whine sounding off from the machine. Tails watched the internal workings of the machine, checking for any other faults in the medical instrument. She placed the paddles on Cream again, ready to press the button that would release the button.

"Clear!"

Seconds before the electricity could be released, Tails spotted a loose piece of wiring. The fox snatched the piece of wiring and connected it to another before the energy could be released. All of the power shot out of the paddles again and into Cream. Even after the shock, the low beep of Cream's heart monitor still sounded, no response. The panther threw the paddles to the ground angrily and cursed silently. Amy was on the verge of crying, but Tails wasn't going to give up. Tears were slowly starting to cascade out of Tails' eyes before grabbing the paddles and shoving the panther away.

"Charge it up!" he commanded nervously, the panther looking at him as if he were crazy.

She wasn't going to bring his hopes down and instead she charged up the machine. If Tails wasn't going to give up, then neither would she.

"Clear!" yelled Tails as he placed the paddles yet again against Cream's fragile body.

Amy watched as Cream's body bounced from the shock, but still no hear beat. Tails clenched his teeth and ordered the panther to charge it again. After two more tries, there was still nothing. No heart beat and neither of them had no more hope. Cream was dead, and deep inside Tails knew that sooner or later he would have to accept the fact. He wouldn't though, he didn't want to accept the fact and he wanted to keep on trying. He ordered the panther to charge it up one last time, tears streaming down the fox's face as he did. One last thump of electricity was shot out of the paddles.

No response.

"God damn it." cursed the panther silently as she put her hands behind her head in frustration.

Tails looked at the heart monitor, his eyes looking at the straight green line that symbolized Cream's still heart. Tears fell off of his face as he looked at the line. Amy looked at Tails and she tried to find the words that would comfort him. She couldn't find anything to say at all, which didn't make things any better.

The panther began to walk out the door, "Time of death . . ." she released a sad sigh "5:37." she said before leaving the room. "I've never lost one." whispered the panther to herself as she walked out the door.

"NO!" yelled a young voice suddenly.

Everyone set their eyes onto Tails as he charged the paddles on his own. He was determined to save his love and if he had the choice, he would sacrifice his own life for her. Another thud of electricity, no response, another try, still the same thing. Tails cast aside the paddles and slumped onto Cream's body, hot tears sliding off of his face and onto the rabbit. Amy looked at the floor sadly, her tears hitting the white linoleum as she cried with Tails.

"Don't go Cream, I don't want you to." sobbed Tails as he burrowed his face into Cream's stomach.

He could feel his heart slowly being torn apart as he cried. Pictures and memories of himself and Cream flashed in his head as he reminisced about better days. This was something he hadn't expected in a long time. In his mind he thought that he'd find the technology that would bring her to life or some magical spell that would bring her back. Cream was close to his heart and once she was taken away, a part of his heart was taken away as well.

"Please don't leave." he sobbed.

Over the sobbing and crying, a single beep sounded over the crying. Then another beep, then another. Before seconds the heart rate monitor was beeping rhythmically.

"Where am I going?" asked a familiar voice that made Tails' hopes soar up higher then the heavens.

Amy raised her head at the voice and found that hope was not lost yet. Cream's eyes were open and the rabbit stared at the sobbing fox on her chest. The pink hedgehog looked at the heart monitor to find a steady heartbeat. For a split second Amy thought she was dreaming, but after seeing Cream place her hand on top of Tails' head, she didn't care. Tails looked at Cream a shocked yet happy look on his face. Neither of the two exchanged words and instead the two hugged each other and cried happily.

Tails was so happy that the only thing he could say was "Welcome home."

* * *

**I turned the sights off of Sonic for this chapter and focused it on Tails just in time for a touching moment. Read and review please! **

**Things might get a bit slow when uploading new chapters. Instead I'll see if I can revise any of the old chapters. Probably fix spelling mistakes, add some more meat to them and from time to time some juicy new extras, but I'm not guaranteeing anything.**


	21. Evolution

**Disclaimer: Sonic and co. © Sega**

**Egglings © Blank the Nobody**

Chapter Twenty

Evolution

10 Days and 10 Hours before Black Egg Armageddon

* * *

_These things are really like animals. They eat, sleep, reproduce and now they . . . evolve._

* * *

She walked through the city streets, a bone chilling breeze flying by suddenly making the pink hedgehog zip up her new red jacket so she could protect herself against the cold. Amy wore a snug red jacket and long blue jeans that day since she was starting to find her normal red dress a bit childish. There was barely anyone else populating the city's sidewalks since most people were too scared to go out anymore. The sky was filled with dark gray clouds and the temperature seemed to be dropping day by day. The weather combined with the Eggling Invasion didn't mix well and everyone could feel death crawling forward.

A couple days after Cream had woken up, the hospital had released her and now the rabbit was back with her mother safe and sound. The rabbit was able to reveal some very disturbing news about Eggman as well, like the fact that he was seeing some self made apparition named Reise. At first it sounded like odd news, but after recounting all of the man's psychotic actions in the past, it actually seemed normal.

The day was crawling by slowly and since there was no one else on the streets, it felt like an eternity. She could hear the sound of gunfire in the distance, but after so long she was actually getting used to the scary sound. Tails seemed to be happier than ever and the fox was working twice as hard now. As if on response, Cream felt the sudden urge to help her love and now the young rabbit was in the lab acting as Tails' assistant. Knuckles was somewhere else probably somewhere else carrying on Rouge's legacy as a spy and watching the Eggling activity. Shadow however was nowhere to be seen, and everyone was starting to worry about him. Sonic on the other hand was just as elusive as Shadow and the blue hedgehog was nowhere to be found.

Amy sighed as she walked through the chilly streets. There was a lot of people she was worried about, but she was worried about Sonic the most. The pink hedgehog hasn't seen her blue love in so long and she really wanted to hug his cobalt body once more. The pink hedgehog burrowed her hand into her jacket pockets as she walked and in the back of her mind she wished she could be of more use to those around her. But she knew that the only thing she was good at was getting kidnapped by psychotic doctor and being held hostage.

She rounded around a corner, her thoughts still hovering over Sonic and the military. Apparently the government was studying the behavior and biologic layout of the Eggdomes, but so far they weren't really getting anywhere. From what Amy had heard from Tails they couldn't find any physical weakness on the monsters and the Eggling metabolism was stronger than most people's but any means of biological warfare wouldn't do much to them. There were so many theories and plans being thrown around, Amy felt lost in the middle. She wanted to help, but she had no idea how.

"Come on! Move your asses!" yelled a strict voice from the intersection ahead of Amy.

Up ahead, a group of six soldiers ran across the street, and from Amy's point of view she could tell that they meant business. A loud explosion rang throughout the streets and Amy looked up to see a large black pillar of smoke starting to rise up in the distance. Gunfire sounded off, this time louder since it was closer to her and Amy had no idea what to do. She had no real experience against Egglings and she couldn't decide whether she would help the soldiers or stay on the sidelines.

"_I don't want to be useless." _she thought.

Her subconscious was right, she didn't want to be useless anymore. She wanted to change how everyone looked at her and she no longer wanted to be the over obsessing fan-girl, and damsel in distress. Amy began to run toward the scene before taking out a small poll twice as long as a drum-stick. It was metal and half of the baton was pink in color and in the middle of it was a small red crystal. The pink hedgehog thumbed the rune, making gob of silver liquid ooze out of the tip. The merury-like substance formed into a round hammer-head and hardened, making an effective weapon.

This was a weapon that Tails had designed for Amy since hefting a large hammer around would be cumbersome. The hammerhead was made up of small nano bots that compacted together in order to deal damage and the fox proudly named it the Nano-Nano Hammer. At first Amy couldn't decide whether to get rid of her old hammer or use the new one, but after recounting all of the random Eggling attacks she knew that it would prove to be useful in the battlefield.

She ran toward the commotion, the sounds of gunfire roaring through the air as loud explosions joined in. Sweat started to form on her brow, and trace down her face as she ran. Like anyone else, she was nervous and she wanted to do her best against the Egglings since it would be her first time fighting them. More gunfire sounded, then a small ground shaking explosion that made Amy fall forward. The hedgehog regained balance before hitting the ground and got back up. After reaching the corner she stopped abruptly and turned to see what was happening.

A small green pineapple-like object flew through the air and exploded near a small group of Egglings, casting off tiny pieces of hot shrapnel into the monsters, killing them instantly. Bullets whizzed by and smacked into the monsters' bodies, going in through one side and out the other. The creatures didn't mind the death of their comrades though and they continued to attack relentlessly.

As the bullets continued to fly, Amy didn't feel scared at all. Instead she was starting to get pumped. Sure it was brutal and bloody, and sure there was a chance she could've died, but she didn't feel that fear. With adrenaline pumping through her veins as she charged the Egglings and jumped up into the air, hammer raised above her head. She brought the heavy hammer crashing down onto an Eggling's head with a bone breaking snap. Another Eggling turned its attention onto the pink hedgehog and growled angrily, before leaping toward her.

Before the Eggling could come close to Amy, a single bullet entered the left side of its head and out the other, sending it flopping to the side. The body weight hit the ground with a thump, before the wound could start making a pool of blood underneath the Eggling's head. Amy looked to the right to find the squadron of soldiers with dead Eggling bodies surrounding them. A soldier leapt over the car he was taking cover behind and ran up to the hedgehog.

"Well, to think that the Damsel in Distress would come to help us." said the human soldier snidely as he approached the hedgehog.

The nickname angered her since she was trying to shake that title. "Do you want my help or not?" she asked in an irritated tone as she looked at the soldier.

The soldier wore a dark gray digital camo fatigues with an odd earpiece that seemed to extend in front of his eye like some sort of lens. Amy remembered the odd earpiece as some camera that the army could use to monitor their soldier's movements. The marvels of modern science were no aiding the brutal thing we call war and it was both a blessing and a curse. Small radio signals were transmitted from the earpiece and into the soldier's head as the person operating their mission gave them new orders.

"If you want to help, then here," said the sergeant as he motioned over to one of the soldiers to come forward. The soldier handed the sergeant an extra earpiece and then he gave to Amy. "Wear this during the mission, our operator will give out orders, but so far, our only mission for today is getting rid of the Eggdome on Lechandrite Hospital south of here." He said strictly, his eyes showing that didn't want any screw ups.

Amy put on the earpiece and nodded. "Lead the way." She stated.

In a matter of seconds the entire squad, including Amy, was moving. The hedgehog could easily keep up with the human soldiers as they ran and none of the spoke a word. It was awkward for the hedgehog since she was used to being so lively and filled to the brim with happiness, but now times were changing and happiness was the last of her concerns right now. The group took a left around a corner and a couple kilometers in front of them they could see the Eggling infested hospital.

A large fleshy growth grew off of the hospital building's side and the squadron could see the Egglings fighting with each other for a torn arm. Blood covered the mouths of the Eggling's like paint covering a child playing with finger paint. One of the Egglings bit onto the other, telling its counterpart that it really wanted the meat and the other responded by slashing its claws. Amy watched, a horrified and disgusted look on her face as she did. She had never seen an Eggling before, but everything that Knuckles had told her was true. They were like animals, relying on their basic skills and caring for no one else other then themselves. It was a horrid sight and yet at the same time she expected it.

"We're going to go around 'em, we want to avoid attracting too much attention." said the sergeant as he steered the squadron into an alleyway.

It was anticlimactic in a sense since Amy wanted to finally fight an Eggling, but she didn't mind it that much. She followed the soldiers move by move and made sure she made no mistakes. If they took cover, she would to, if they were quiet, then she would do the same. Amy wanted to stay as close as she could to the soldiers so she could learn how they operate against the animalistic creatures they called Egglings.

The alleyway stank of decay and death as Amy passed a large dumpster swarming with flies. As the silently ran by, Amy could peer in through the dirty windows of stores and see the dusty and old goods that they used to sell, like food, furniture and toys. It was a sad sight, but Amy had to push those thoughts behind because her goal was only a couple feet away. She looked forward to see that the alleyway lead right Eggdome's doorway and lucky for her, it was unguarded.

"Alright, guess those geeks back at HQ know what they're doing," spat the sergeant as he led the squad down the alleyway and toward the Eggdome. "If this all goes according to plan, then we'll be in and out in no time." he said cockily.

All of them reach the Eggdome's doorway and they all looked around, checking for anyone or anything that could halter their mission's progression. None of them could find anything suspicious and the sergeant pried the door open with his bare hands, allowing all of his troops to get inside, including Amy. Once inside, Amy could feel that it was tremendously humid inside of the dome and that everything was a shade of orange now. She looked around to find the translucent pods that held the innocent people who were to be turned into the monstrosities that confined them in the first place. Her mouth dropped open with shock as she gazed at the ugly sight.

"Wh- what's happening to them?" she asked as she walked up to one of the pods.

The sergeant walked over to the main pillar of the Eggdome and withdrew two sticks of C4 from his pouch. He stuck them onto the pillar, right next to the Heart and tinkered with it. "The fluids inside of those pods change the genetic makeup of whoever's inside of it. In short, they're becoming Egglings, Ms. Rose." he said plainly as he attached a wire to the plastic explosive.

She gazed at the people, floating silently in the greenish liquid that surrounded them. Like any other normal person, Amy felt bad for them, but when she looked around, it looked like the soldiers didn't care at all. It was shocking at first, but she came to the conclusion that the soldiers have done this so many times that they were starting to lose interest. The sound of clicking and buzzing could be heard as the sergeant adjusted the bomb's wires and setting, making sure that it would receive the signal from his detonator.

Amy continued to look around, her expression a saddened one as she gazed at the civilians soon to be turned into monsters. As she did so a soldier looked up, a confused look on his face and his plight attracted attention as some of the soldiers began to look up at the ceiling of the Eggdome.

"Sergeant, uhhh, I don't remember the briefing telling us anything about vents." said the soldier, his statement peaking the sergeant's curiosity.

Both Amy and the sergeant looked up to find that the every epicenter of the dome was nothing but a round opening allowing them to see the gray clouds outside. Amy knew that all Eggdomes were supposed to be a perfect dome and this hole seemed strange to her. The sergeant stared up at the opening, a confused look on his face. Before anyone could say anything else a loud screeching noise erupted into the air, making everyone clutch their hands over their ears.

As the screeching continued, shadows moved around on the ground and the sounds of wings beating joined in. Amy tilted her head to the side, to see one of the soldiers get plucked off of the ground suddenly. All around her the soldier were being picked up one by one and they were taken to their untimely deaths. The hedgehog looked up to see dark figures flying through the air and in her head she knew that they were the source of the screeching. One of the shadows dove down toward the sergeant and Amy tackled the soldier to make sure he wasn't taken.

"We need to get out of here!" yelled Amy over the loud death-screech.

The sergeant nodded and the two got to their feet. Amy looked behind her, there was no one else left other then guns and body parts littering the floor where the soldiers should have been. Instead of mourning over their deaths, Amy turned to the sergeant who was already holding the door open.

"Come on!" yelled the Sergeant as he struggled to hold the door open.

Both of them hurried out of the Eggdome, the screeching still ringing through the air. As they ran away from the horrific structure the Sergeant pressed the button on the detonator since he knew that he wouldn't have any time later on. A loud explosion engulfed the entire Eggdome and the shockwave pushed both the Sergeant and Amy off of their feet, causing them to fall flat on their faces. Amy rolled onto her back to see black smoke rising into the air as it mixed with a small flock of winged creatures flying circles around her. The screeching had stopped and she brought herself to her feet. All around her she could see the winged creatures, a horrible mix of Mobian with gruesome, fleshy wings that seemed to grow out of their backs. These, new Eggling, had slimmer body types instead of bulky frames like the normal ones.

Amy tightened her grip on her hammer as the sergeant jumped to his feet, gun at the ready. With a mighty gust of wind one of the Avian Egglings landed in front of them. To Amy, she could tell that these Egglings were much different than the others. These Egglings were much more controlled and they didn't roar and grunt like animals. Amy watched as the Avian Eggling slowly flapped its wings so it could stay a couple inches off of the ground. Its bloodshot eyes seemed to be watching every move and Amy could see the angered smirk on the creatures face.

"What the hell are these things?" asked the sergeant, his voice a whisper.

"I don't know." replied Amy nervously.

Other Avian Egglings landed next to the first and from first glance, Amy could see one similarity between all of the flying Egglings. All of them appeared to be women at one point. Small, ragged earrings hung from some of the Egglings' and Amy could easily see the blood encrusted wedding rings that adorned some of their fingers. They all seemed to wear torn clothing and for some nothing but torn lingerie. It was a horrible sight that left questions buzzing around in Amy's head. Why did the women change?

Before another question could come into Amy's head, the Eggling's emitted their loud screech once again as they charged the two. The sergeant fired off five rounds, two felling two Egglings and the three others merely scratching the other Avians that flew forward. One Eggling brought its arm above its head, ready to cleave the sergeant in two, but before it could, a large hammer smashed into the side of its head, sending it flying to the sideways. Amy had saved the Sergeant's life and the soldier thanked her with a nod.

"HQ this is Alpha Bravo, I need some air support right now!" yelled the Sergeant into his radio.

Amy smashed her hammer into another Eggling as the Sergeant called for help. She looked up to find an entire flock of the creatures flying around above them and they all seemed to be screeching and cawing at the same time. Amy looked over her shoulder, a worried look on her face.

"Hurry up!" she yelled frantically before a trio of Avian Egglings swooped down on her.

"Alright Alpha Bravo, ETA two minutes. We're sending out the best." said the operator on the other end in an assuring tone.

The sergeant cursed silently before raising his gun into the air. He began to release short bursts of fire, every shot hitting its intended target and sending a dead Eggling spiraling down to the ground. Four Egglings dived down and Amy swung her hammer hitting one. She then rolled to the side to avoid the three sharp talons from the other Egglings before they flew back upwards to join their friends. Despite their best efforts, the swarm of Egglings didn't seem to deteriorate and the two were starting to get tired.

A loud clicking started to come from the Sergeant's machine gun and the human cursed loudly. He removed the used clip and searched his body for another one. After searching for thirty seconds, the Sergeant got tired of looking and simply threw his weapon aside before taking out his pistol. Loud pops entered the air as the soldier fired upwards with great accuracy. Every single one of his bullets smashing into an Eggling's skull. Using his military training, the Sergeant remembered the capacity of a single clip of bullets and dropped the clip, knowing that it had no more bullets in it. He then withdrew another clip of bullets from his hip pocket and rammed it into place before firing again. He fired a trio of shots before he felt a sharp pain in his shoulder. He looked to his side to find an Avian Eggling digging its talons into him and the Sergeant screamed in pain as the Eggling began to pull him upwards.

Amy turned around to find the Sergeant struggling to get free from the Avian Eggling's grip and he fired his pistol up at the bird. Another Avian dove downwards and took hold of the Sergeant's other arm and it dug its claws into the soldier's arm, making him drop his pistol. Amy ran toward the Sergeant, an angered look on her face.

"Let him go!" yelled Amy angrily as she charged.

She swung her hammer, hitting one Eggling in the back of its heading, killing it instantly, but the other one managed to lift the struggling Sergeant into the air and out of Amy's reach.

"Get the hell off!" yelled the Sergeant as he began to punch the Egglings.

Another one of the Egglings grabbed the arm he was punching with and began to pull, making the soldier scream out in pain. Then another Eggling grabbed his leg and began to pull. All of the other Egglings knew what was happening and each of them grabbed one of the soldier's limbs and began to pull in opposite directions.

Amy screamed at the sight and knew what was going to happen unless she did something about it. Before she could do anything, she felt her arm getting restricted. She looked to her side to find that another Avian Eggling had its talons around one of her arms and was now beginning to pull her up into the air along with the sergeant. She swung her hammer at it, but found that she had dropped her weapon and now it was out of reach. As the Eggling began to pull the pink hedgehog into the air, the other Egglings began to claw at her. She screamed as their talons scratched her body and she wished that her hero would come to her rescue.

"Looks like we got here just in time." said a familiar voice from her earpiece.

A loud, rapid thumping noise entered the air and it conquered over the loud screeching. Amy could hear wet thumps sounding besides her and she looked to find that the Eggling lifting her off of the ground was now filled with a dozen bullet holes. The pink hedgehog plummeted down to the earth, but luckily she landed on her feet thanks to her feminine grace. Loud thumps could be heard around her as more and more Avian Egglings hit the ground, their carcasses smoking with hot lead.

Another loud thump was heard, "Ow!" groaned the Sergeant as he rubbed his butt.

Amy ran over to the Sergeant and looked up to find that the Sergeant was covered with some fresh cuts and bruises. Instead of worrying about his wounds, the Sergeant pointed at the sky to see that they had both been saved. Avian Egglings flew around frantically as streaks of rapid-fire bullets smashed into them. A large silver helicopter joined the flying Egglings and the chopper's five turrets rang as they fired into the flock. The large helicopter had a large rotor and two wings that seemed to extend a couple of meters. Two turrets were welded to the bottom of each wing and there was on large bulge on the bottom of the chopper that had a large rotating barrel extending out of it. This larger turret seemed to pound out rounds of bullets and Amy could tell that whoever was firing this turret must have been very skilled.

Other helicopters joined in before the rest of the flock dispersed in different directions. The rest of the helicopters flew after them, but the larger one lowered down and landed in front of them. Amy raised an eyebrow as she looked at the insignia on the chopper. It wasn't G.U.N.'s symbol, and it appeared to be two familiar looking tails. She couldn't believe and for a second she thought it was just a hallucination. The door slid open and standing in the middle of the helicopter was a very familiar golden fox.

"Tails?" asked Amy in a confused tone.

Before Tails could reply a brown rabbit walked up behind him and smiled at the pink hedgehog as a light blue chao rested on the rabbit's shoulder. "Cream to!" piped the rabbit sweetly.

The sight confused Amy even more. Her head filled with more and more question that would probably take months to answer. The Sergeant however didn't look surprised at all and instead he crossed his arms as if he was expecting to see the fox. There was one question that just kept on nagging at Amy. She just couldn't figure out why Cream was with Tails. Sure she knew that the rabbit was helping Tails with some experiments, but why inside of a helicopter.

Tails waved his hand for Amy and the Sergeant to get in. "Come on, we need to report your findings." he said.

Without another word, Amy and the Sergeant ran for the helicopter and got in. The Sergeant sat in the back, while Amy sat in the front with Tail. Cream seemed to disappear somewhere in the helicopter, but Amy didn't ask any questions until they were in the air.

"Since when did you work for the army as a pilot?" asked the hedgehog as they flew back to base.

"Three days ago, I built this thing to combat anything, earth, air, and sea." answered the fox smartly.

"Okay, but what about Cream? Why is she with you?" she asked.

She was fine with Tails flying for the army, but so far she couldn't find any reason why Cream had to be involved. The rabbit had just come out of a coma a couple of days ago, the fact that she was on an armored, flying, killing machine just baffled Amy. Tails chuckled slightly before flipping a couple switches on the helicopter's dashboard. After he did a large circular door on the floor slid open behind Amy and Tails, and Cream seemed to rise out of the door. She was seated in some circular chair with two triggers in front of her and the pod she was sitting in seemed to be made of a strong type of glass. Amy then saw the long familiar gun barrel extending out of the dome. The rabbit smiled sweetly as Amy slowly started to piece the facts together.

Tails scratched the back of his head before answering the question. "Ehhhh, I don't know how to tell you this, but she's my gunner."

* * *

**Just because Cream operates a large weapon doesn't mean she's changed. I'll try to make her OOC because of her new job, but just you wait. Just because I change a job doesn't mean I have to change someone's personality completely. **

**Review please!**


	22. In the Dark

**Disclaimer: Sonic and co. © Sega**

**All types of Egglings © Blank the Nobody**

Chapter Twenty One

In the Dark

6 Days and 3 Hours before Black Egg Armageddon

* * *

_We've all been chasing Eggman around. Trying to tell what his plans are. Most of the time it was easy, but now we're lost. Lost in the dark._

* * *

The moon was shrouded with black clouds and the only thing left to illuminate the streets were the old street lights. The roads were the only path since all of the alleyways had no lights within them. A sudden breeze blew by, but this was no natural breeze. A black blur raced through the streets, causing dust and loose pieces of papers to wave around as the dark blur passed by. It ran by rapidly, leaving no trace that he was there as a low growling filled the air. The source, the creatures that roamed around at night.

Ever since Amy's discovery of the Avian Egglings, more varieties of Egglings started to sprout up. Day by day, the scientist kept on coming up with the same conclusion. The Egglings were evolving to suit war. Every new creature that joined the Eggling's rank seemed as if it were built specifically to do one job and the ordinary lower-level Egglings were becoming hard to find. Shadow had a mission that night, he was to meet up with a squadron of soldiers and retrieve some new intel they had on a new breed of Eggling that seemed to be preying on the people still living in Westopolis.

Shadow stopped at one corner, his back against the wall as he peered over the corner to see if there was anyone there. Most of the time he wouldn't be as stealthy, but he didn't want to be fighting any unwanted battles. The ebony hedgehog raced from one piece of cover to the next, being very cautious about what he was doing. After finally verifying that there was no one else watching him, Shadow just started to run in the middle of the streets once again, his destination close by.

He ran silently, his senses telling him where everything was as he ran. But then he sensed something. Shadow turned abruptly into an alleyway and he hid in the shadows, searching the street for anything. He could feel it somewhere around him, but he just couldn't see it. His crimson eyes searched and searched and still he couldn't find anything.

"My god, I'm right here you idiot." said a familiar voice in an unimpressed tone from above him.

The ebony hedgehog looked up and he could see that standing on the building's rooftop was Anubis. The jackal jumped down from his post and greeted Shadow with a smile. Shadow wasn't too happy to see the jackal and he had no idea why he was there in the first place.

"What are you doing here?" asked Shadow coldly as he shot the jackal a serious glare.

Anubis shrugged. "I'm here to help you." answered Anubis normally.

"But why." asked Shadow curiously.

"Because I want to." answered the jackal playfully as he shot the hedgehog a smirk.

Shadow was starting to get tired of Anubis's games and the ebony hedgehog began to run, with the jackal following close behind. After working with Anubis before, Shadow knew that asking the jackal why he did things would be a fruitless endeavor. Anubis was a wildcard, he either did something for a reason or he did something without a reason. When the two first met, the ebony hedgehog just thought of him as an evil, manipulating crook who did what we wanted. But after helping the Underground, Shadow came to realize that Anubis was actually a great leader and friend once you got past his personality. It was interesting when Shadow thought back to those days. Back then he was even colder and crueler, but after the experience with Anubis and his team, he learned some compassion, even if it was only a little.

He lead Anubis through the streets as he made sure that he kept a good pace so Anubis could keep up. As the two ran, Shadow could hear the jackal humming a familiar tune and the hedgehog restrained himself from humming along with the jackal. Seconds later they took a turn and were met with an empty outdoor marketplace. Some of the stores were illuminated with their lights, but they flickered on and off uncontrollably as electricity flickered through the fluorescent lights. There were no signs of life in the abandoned plaza and Shadow found that to be very intriguing.

"What's wrong?" asked Anubis as he glared at the darkness around him.

"The squad I'm supposed to meet with . . . we're supposed to meet here." whispered Shadow as he inspected the area around him.

Anubis raised an eyebrow at the answer. It wasn't surprising though, since everything else was going wrong in the world and Anubis wanted to see how things would play out. A loud scream filled the air and the two looked in the direction where it was coming from. The screaming continued as the sound of gunfire mixed in. Both of them ran toward the source as the gunfire continued to ring throughout the night time air. Once they got to the source, they found a soldier under a streetlamp's illumination firing his pistol into the dark.

"Get the fuck away! Get away!" yelled the bruised and bloody soldier as he continued to fire his pistol at the shadows.

Both of them stepped forward and before they could calm the soldier down, he aimed his pistol at them and fired repeatedly, thinking they were the enemy. Instead of jumping out of the bullet's way, Shadow stood still as Anubis unraveled his bandages and formed a shield around the two. The useless bullets dropped off the shield before the bandages that made up the shield unwound and wrapped around Anubis's wrists once more. Shadow then swatted the soldier's gun away and stared the soldier right in the eyes. Once the frightened soldier looked into Shadow's death glare, he calmed down instantly, afraid that Shadow would hurt him.

"What's going on, where's the rest of your squad?" asked Shadow coldly, as Anubis tossed the soldier his pistol.

The soldier caught the pistol with ease and looked at the ground, trying to find the right words to describe what had happened. He got to his feet, his body still twitchy and erratic since he was still scared. He looked around quickly, as if searching for something and the soldier looked at Shadow once again.

"My squad got here early and we decided to wait." he began, his voice starting to waver. "A couple minutes later, we started to notice that we were slowly starting to decrease in number."

Shadow and Anubis looked at each other, a curious look on both of their faces. The ebony hedgehog then turned back to face the soldier. "What do you mean?" asked the hedgehog.

"We were just standing around, chatting and hanging out while we waited for you and we were starting to get picked off!" said the soldier frantically as he walked around, gripping his head. "One by one, we just started to disappear and by the time we knew it, we were too late!" the soldier turned around, a scared look on the soldier's face. "I saw what happened though. The new form of Eggling we were researching, they were the ones who did this . . ." he said as he looked around again, as if hearing something that Anubis and Shadow couldn't hear. "Th-th-they thrive on the darkness," he stuttered as a large pair of claws inched out of the darkness behind him. Shadow threw his arm forward, trying to save the soldier. "They hunt at night." said the soldier finally, before the claws dug into his shoulder and dragged him backwards into the darkness.

Anubis shaped his bandages into a drill-like shape and he plunged them into the darkness. The jackal's attack hit nothing and another clawed hand appeared behind him. Shadow turned around just in time and aimed his palm at the shadow creature.

"Chaos Spear!" yelled Shadow as a large bolt of energy erupted from his hand.

Anubis quickly got the message and got down, Shadow's attack smashing into nothing but the brick wall behind Anubis.

"They're fast." said Anubis as his bandages formed blades.

"No, they're annoying." snarled Shadow angrily as he looked around rapidly, trying to find the creatures that were preying on them both.

The two of them looked around, the sounds of the creatures scurrying through the darkness sounding around them. Occasionally, Shadow fired a Chaos Spear into the dark, hoping that it would hit something, while Anubis just continued to scan the area occasionally slashing his bandage-blades into the dark. A clawed hand shot out of the darkness and reached for the back of Shadow's head, but was stopped as one of Anubis's bandages wrapped around its wrist. Shadow turned around to find Anubis dragging the creature out of the darkness so they could finally get a good look at it.

A loud ear piercing screech filled the air as the creature thrashed about. It had long, spindly arms, which were so skinny that they looked like they were nothing but bones. Its body was skinny and looked as if it hadn't eaten in days. Its long claws seemed very jagged and blood encrusted that it seemed to shine with a crimson glow in the street lamp's light. Shadow looked into the thrashing Noct Eggling's eyes and he could see that it wasn't used to the light. Anubis wrapped his other bandage around the creature's throat and snapped the Eggling's neck easily. The jackal then released the Eggling from his grasp and looked around as the rest of the creatures continued to circle the two.

"We're going to need some more light." said Anubis calmly as Shadow shot another Chaos Spear into the darkness. "There's a main generator here, you stay here, and I'll go switch it on." he said, before running off into the dark.

Before Shadow could protest against Anubis's plan, the jackal was gone, leaving the hedgehog alone standing in the middle marketplace's plaza. One of the Eggling's charged out of the darkness, swiping its claws frantically. The hedgehog jumped to the side before the creature ran into the darkness once again. Shadow stood straight up, an angry scowl on his face. He raised both of his hands so his right palm was facing his right and his left palm was facing his left.

"Chaos Spear!" he yelled, as a bolt of Chaos Energy leapt out of his hands and shot into the dark.

The dying screech coming from two Egglings filled the air and Shadow smirked, knowing that he was finally getting used to hunting the abominations. Shadow then leapt through the air, firing blast after blast into every direction, knowing that his attacks were hitting his intended targets.

More and more Noct Egglings were dying because of Shadow and the hedgehog felt good amongst the chaos. Shadow continued his rapid-fire Chaos Spears and he knew that he was lessening the Noct Eggling's number. But as he did so he could feel that he was starting to get surrounded by more and more Egglings and almost on cue, the streetlight he was fighting under flickered on and off. Shadow stopped his attack and looked up, to find that the glass bulb was starting to burn out.

"Fuck." cursed Shadow silently, before the streetlight went out, leaving Shadow standing in the darkness.

He could hear the Noct Egglings starting to come in closer and closer, until he could smell the blood that encrusted their fur. It was so dark, Shadow could barely see in front of his face, but he still kept calm. Out of the darkness, a claw slashed at him, cutting Shadow's arm. The hedgehog threw a punch to his side, but it hit nothing because the creature wasn't there anymore. Shadow tried to concentrate, but the horrible sounds that the beasts were emitting were horrible and annoying.

Another Eggling cut Shadow, then another, in a matter of seconds the attacks started to come at a more rapid pace. Shadow punched, kicked and blasted in every direction, but in the darkness, the Noct Eggling had the upper hand. In his mind, Shadow wondered when Anubis would finally turn the power on and some voice in his head told him that the jackal had just left him to die. The ebony hedgehog's eyes shot open, anger boiling in his ruby pupils. As the Egglings continued to cut and slice at him, he started to gather energy. His entire body started to emit a red glow and he started to grit his teeth as he gathered more energy.

"Chaos . . . ." he started. "Blast!"

A bright red light composed of Chaos Energy engulfed Shadow before growing into such great proportions that it engulfed the entire Noct Eggling mob around him. Most of them dissolved at the touch of the immense power and the other Egglings farther away from Shadow just burned to death. As the blast died down, it left Shadow kneeling in the darkness panting heavily. He could smell the burnt carcasses around him and he knew that he had killed the majority of them all. His hopes were crushed though as the sounds of more Egglings grew closer and he knew that there was at least ten or twelve Eggling's left. He could feel the Noct Egglings slowly start to surround him. Shadow was too tired to do anything about them and he hoped that Anubis was finally getting to the power box. One of the Noct Egglings raised its arm at Shadow and prepared to execute his prey.

There was a loud click and Shadow's entire vision was filled with a bright light. Shadow shielded his eyes from the light and the sound of distorted Eggling's filled the air. The Eggling's reeled in pain as the light burned their vision. Seconds later the Eggling scurried away and back into the darkness, leaving Shadow alone in the middle of the illuminated marketplace. Shadow looked around and found that Anubis was standing next to him.

"Come on," said Anubis as he extended a hand to help Shadow up. "Let's go before they come back with more friends." said the jackal before the hedgehog took his hand.

Shadow got to his feet and looked around, trying to remember where the military base was. "Yeah, we've got to go back to base, they need to know about this." said Shadow before hearing a sigh escape from Anubis's mouth.

The hedgehog turned to face the jackal to find that he looked sad. Shadow raised an eyebrow at the sight and wondered why he looked so glum.

"I can't go back with you. I have to go back to the Underground Shadow." he said before looking at Shadow with saddened eyes. "We're . . . . we're closing the Gates."

A shocked looked appeared on Shadow's face at the statement. The Gates were the doorway to the Underground and Shadow has been through them many times. Last time he was in the Underground, Anubis assured the hedgehog that the Gates would always stay open and the only reason why it would close was if something horrible was happening that would threaten the Underground's population. Then it hit Shadow. The new Eggling threat was scaring Anubis and Shadow knew that the jackal was very sensitive when it came to his people.

"Is that why you came with me?" asked Shadow in a surprised tone.

Anubis shrugged. "Yeah, I figured that you should know that your home away from home was closing its doors on you." he said normally, his saddened look gone already.

"But why are you closing the Gates?" asked Shadow. "Why don't you just help us fight this war?" he asked curiously.

"Shadow," Anubis sighed, amused that the hedgehog was showing some compassion towards him. "You of all people should know that Grimwalkers don't help other people. We are proud people, we never ask for help." he finished, knowing the Underground's motto.

The ebony hedgehog tried to find the right words to convince Anubis to keep the Gates open, but he knew that arguing with the jackal would be useless. Anubis walked forward and patted Shadow on the shoulder. "We'll open them again once you get that idiot friend of yours to save the world." he said before walking past Shadow and into the darkness.

Shadow stood there, alone once again. Anubis was the closest living person he had to a friend and now he was just going to shut his doors on the hedgehog. The ebony hedgehog didn't know what to feel and he found that fact funny because most of the time he didn't feel anything at all. He started walking toward the G.U.N. HQ, his emotions mixed up like some well-stirred soup. Then he realized something that fueled his determination to win. He had to win this fight if he wanted to go back to the Underground, back to the people who understood him the most.

* * *

**Review please!**


	23. Blunt Force Trauma

**Disclaimer: Sonic and co. © Sega**

**All variation of Egglings © Blank the Nobody**

Chapter Twenty Two

Blunt Force Trauma

3 Days and 9 Hours before Black Egg Armageddon

* * *

_Everyone knew that something was getting closer. Except for him. He was too busy beating things to death._

* * *

THUD!

THUD!

More and more thuds filled the air and they sounded like a tank discharging their large artillery shells. Another thud, then another, the sounds were starting to become faster and faster until it sounded like the bass of a hip hop song. As the thudding continued to sound off, a maniacal laugh joined in and whoever was making the sounds seemed to be definitely having fun. The city was dark and gray once again, the light gray clouds filling the sky like paint covering a wall.

"Come on! You can do better than that!" yelled the voice cockily from within the city before a loud roar filled the air.

A red echidna jumped onto a rusty park bench and then off of it as a large boulder crashed into the park seat. In front of the echidna was a large, burly Eggling with fists the size of flat screen TV's. The Eggling was large and filled with muscles and its legs seem scrawny compared to the rest of its body. Its face however was bruised and battered because of the echidna's fighting and so far it looked like an even match. The echidna landed a couple feet away from the creature, a smile on his face. A low growl filled the air as the echidna looked at the Eggling's ugly face.

Both of them charged, an angry roar escaping both of the challengers' mouths. The Eggling drew one fist back behind its head and the echidna jumped into the air to about eye level with the Eggling. Then at the same time, both of them shot their fists forward.

STOP!

Rewind

3 Days and 10 Hours before Black Egg Armageddon

The sky was still the same shade of gray and it seemed to be colder that afternoon. A howling wind blew by, accompanied by the rapid 'tap tap tap' of someone walking by in a huff. A figure walked along the streets, his thoughts wild and unpredictable. There was no mission that day, but he wanted one badly because after Rouge's death he just seemed to get restless. His eyes searched left and right, as if looking for a fight and sadly there was no one there.

Knuckles wasn't acting like the normal Knuckles these days. He seemed a bit angrier and more battle crazed, which was starting to worry the people around him. He wore a black, leather jacket that was unzipped that day and some normal blue jeans, and he even wore large aviator sunglasses even though there was no sun. His outfit made him look like some sort of alleyway thug but didn't mind. An irritated scowl adorned the echidna's face as he walked through the desolate streets and he really wanted to do something.

"God damn G.U.N." muttered the echidna to himself. "Can't give me some fucking mission." he grumbled angrily before rounding around a corner.

Things weren't going well with Knuckles. Every time G.U.N. didn't give him a mission, he would storm off and patrol the streets voluntarily. Occasionally, he would run into Avians, and normal Egglings and at night maybe even the Noct Egglings. But defeating those weaker Egglings wouldn't quench his thirst for battle. Knuckles apparently had a strong hunger for battle and it was really worry his friends. They knew that it was only because Knuckles was angry at Eggman for what he did to Rouge and every time he saw an Eggling he wanted to beat the life out of it.

But even fighting the Egglings wasn't enough. Knuckles wanted to fight someone strong, so that the next time he'd fight Eggman, he'd be prepared to win. Knuckles stopped in the middle of the sidewalk, hands still in his pockets as he looked around the gray streets. He could feel something, or maybe his addiction to fighting was finally getting to him. The ground underneath him shook for a second, and then it shook again, as if something big was taking slow footsteps.

The echidna payed no attention to the rumbling and kept on walking. In his head he just thought it was some military mission or a tank shooting off its tank shells. As he walked, the rumbling got closer until every step Knuckles took almost caused him to fall over. Knuckles stopped walking and looked around, trying to find the source of the shaking. Chairs and tables toppled over from the shaking and a streetlight in the distance fell over because of its rusted and defective screws.

"What the hell is going on?" asked Knuckles to himself as he continued flail around trying to regain balance.

A loud roar filled that air, causing Knuckles to cover his ears. The ground shook even more as the windows shattered at the noise, sending small pieces of glass everywhere. Knuckles could feel something coming toward him and the echidna dived forward as a large truck burst out of the building behind him, almost crashing into him. The large semi-truck smashed into another brick building before another roar of defiance filled the air. Knuckles got to his feet and looked into the hole that the thrown truck had created. Smoke and dust filled the vacant space between him and his new enemy and Knuckles smirked.

Knuckles knew that there was no ordinary Eggling that could throw cars around.

Car alarms went off suddenly before another car was thrown at Knuckles. Instead of dodging the car, Knuckles drew his arm backwards and launched it forward. The force of his punch made a huge dent in car's hood before stopping in front of the echidna standing on its front fender. Knuckles then gave the car a strong punch, sending it back to the person who threw it at him in the first place. A loud crash filled the air before the same angered roar erupted once more. Knuckles walked forward, wanting to meet this new enemy he had discovered.

He kept on walking until he finally made his way out of the dust cloud and into a giant mall plaza. Knuckles could hear the low, anxious growling of the creature in front of him and he smiled at the sight of it. The monster in front of him, it was large, as tall as a street lamp, with muscles as thick as the radius of a car tire. Its chest was large and packed with muscles and a row of sharp spikes aligned its spinal column. The creature's head was thick and it had eyes that were red and bloodshot.

Even though the abomination looked huge, ugly and scary, it seemed to match Knuckles' criteria perfectly. This new Eggling was the exact challenge Knuckles wanted. An insane smirk creased across Knuckles' face as he took a step forward. He cracked his knuckles quickly and threw his aviator glasses off in preparation. Usually he would gauge the enemy's strength at the least, but the echidna was different this time. Knuckles no longer wanted to take on enemies, knowing that he would win. Now he wanted his life to be on the line, he wanted to let the adrenaline flow through his bloodstream so he can fight harder than before.

Knuckles chuckled evilly as he glared at the huge creature. It would be fun to fight a creature like this and it would definitely make him stronger. The echidna then grabbed onto a street lamp and ripped it off of its faulty screws before balancing the long metal rod on his shoulder.

"If you're just going to stand there," he began to wind up his swing, the same insane smirk on his face. "then you're really asking for it." he finally said before swinging the lamppost.

The lamp post smashed into the creature's side, the impact so strong that it sent the brute flying to the side and crashing into a small food court restaurant. After the metal lamp had done its job, Knuckles looked at it, a huge groove where the post had hit the monster. Knuckles shrugged before tossing the useless post to the side, knowing that it was useless anyways. Knuckles looked to his side, to find the creature enshrouded by a cloud of smoke and dust.

"Man, I thought you'd be a chal-" Before Knuckles could finish his sentence a large French fry fryer shot through the air and smashed into Knuckles, sending him into the men's apparel store.

A dozen jeans, varying in sizes fluttered around in the air, some of them landing on Knuckles who lay against a couple of destroyed mannequins. Instead of getting up and getting angry like most people would think, Knuckles got up and chuckled. There was a cut going along the echidna's right temple and blood was seeping down his head; and his leather jacket was dusty with a large cut in the sleeve. Knuckles laughed maniacally, knowing that this new Eggling wouldn't disappoint him. The echidna stopped his laugh and kept an evil grin as he tore his jacket off. The Eggling got back to its feet and roared angrily as if matching Knuckles' ferocity.

"That's what I'm talking about! Come on!" yelled Knuckles insanely before charging the Eggling.

As Knuckles charged, the Juggernaut Eggling grabbed some broken pieces of the broken floor that was around him and began to throw them wildly at the charging echidna. Knuckles dodged the chunks easily as he continued to close in on the Eggling. Once Knuckles was close enough, the Juggernaut brought its fists above its head and brought them smashing down on Knuckles. The echidna avoided the bone shattering attack by sliding in between the Eggling's legs before he could even be touched.

With an angered snarl, the bulking Eggling turned around just in time to be hit in the face with a large decorative trash can. The can burst on impact, showering the Eggling with rotten smoothies, discarded receipts, and food that was months old. The monster released a low growl, before wiping the trash of its face, only to find Knuckles rolling on the floor laughing. If the monster had a usable mind, he would know that Knuckles was underestimating him. It roared once more before charging Knuckles, who was still laughing.

Finally realizing what the Eggling was doing, Knuckles jumped to his feet. He was too slow though and the Juggernaut's giant body smashed into Knuckles. The echidna felt as though he was trying to stop a bullet train, and the monster drove him through wall after wall, until they finally made it out into the mall's parking lot. The massive Eggling stopped and the huge fisted echidna flew off of its body and across the cement. Knuckles skidded across the asphalt before finally stopping a couple of feet away from the Juggernaut. Instead of getting up and engaging the Eggling in an angry staring contest, Knuckles laughed as he started to get up.

Blood traced down the echidna's mouth, as he stood up. The back of his head hurt and he could feel something wet coming down his back. He knew that there was probably a bone fracture in the back of his cranium, but he didn't care much about it. Knuckles snickered, the thought of dying amused him greatly. Death for some reason was as scary as it used to be. Now it just seemed like some sort fairytale or story that parents would tell their kids in order to make them go to sleep. The mildly-insane echidna cracked his knuckles and smiled.

"Let's go, I don't have all day," taunted the echidna as he waved at the Eggling to come and fight. The Eggling roared angrily before panting heavily. "Bring it." Knuckles pushed the pain he was feeling to the back of his head.

The Eggling leapt into the air and Knuckles watched as it positioned itself over him. Knuckles jumped backwards as the Juggernaut smashed its oversized fists into the ground, creating a large shockwave that lasted for a couple of seconds. After the tremor had ended Knuckles finally hit the ground on his back. Knuckles then got back to his feet and closed in on the Eggling. The echidna unleashed a flurry of punches on the Eggling's chest. The sound of Knuckles' fist smashing into the Eggling sounded like a loud thud.

More and more thuds filled the air and they sounded like a tank discharging their large artillery shells. Another thud, then another, the sounds were starting to become faster and faster until it sounded like the bass of a hip hop song. As the thudding continued to sound off, Knuckles started to laugh maniacally.

"Come on! You can do better than that!" yelled Knuckles cockily from within the city before a loud roar filled the air.

The red echidna jumped onto a rusty park bench and then off of it as a large boulder crashed into the park seat. Knuckles landed a couple feet away from the creature, a smile on his face. A low growl filled the air as the echidna looked at the Eggling's ugly face.

Both of them charged, an angry roar escaping both of the challengers' mouths. The Eggling drew one fist back behind its head and the echidna jumped into the air to about eye level with the Eggling. Then at the same time, both of them shot their fists forward.

Back to the Present

Knuckles and the Eggling launched their fists forward at the same time, like some sort of dramatic fight scene. But instead of following through with his attack, Knuckles stopped midway, so he could dodge the Eggling's fist and he planted both of his feet on the creature's face in a devastating kick. The impact of the attack sent the Juggernaut started to topple backwards. The echidna then landed on his feet and cackled as the Eggling rubbed its head.

"Sorry if that was a bit anticlimactic, but hey, I'm winning and you're not. That's all that matters." said the echidna before shrugging.

As if in response, the Eggling shook the pain away and growled. Knuckles could see that its left eyelid was torn and that there was a large gash going down from its forehead to its right eye. Knuckles was starting to get bored though. The Juggernaut was strong, and it did prove somewhat of a challenge, but it just didn't seem to grab his attention. If this boredom continued Knuckles would just kill the creature, but no, the creature wasn't done yet.

The Juggernaut raised its head high and released a ghastly howl. It wasn't very loud or annoying, but then again, Knuckles was used to hearing the Avian Eggling's screeches and maybe they affected his hearing a bit. A couple seconds filled with howling passed by before the creature stopped. But as if on response, the air was immediately filled with a trio of identical roars. Knuckles looked around, trying to find the source of the roars but he just couldn't pin point the source.

Three shadows then jumped high into the air and landed around the first Juggernaut Eggling, causing a plume of dust and gray smoke to erupt from the crash site. Knuckles raised an eyebrow at the sight and smiled, knowing that the Juggernaut wasn't going to go out easily. As the dust cleared three new Egglings walked out, they were identical to the original Juggernaut except they were different colors. Knuckles stifled a laugh, then it became a chuckle, before long, Knuckles was laughing his head off and even he found it a bit odd that he was standing while doing so. The echidna cut the laughter short as he wiped a stray tear that was on the edge of his eye.

"Man you don't seem to stop impressing me." he said cockily as he stretched his arms.

"_These guys might actually kill me." _

The creatures snarled in anticipation for their meal as Knuckles continued to smile evilly, knowing that he was hiding his fear.

"_I can probably kill one of them though." _

All four of the Juggernauts charged Knuckles at the same time and the echidna responded by just standing there.

"_Will it matter if I just kill one though?" _

Time seemed to slow down suddenly as the Eggling's got closer. The first one to reach Knuckles had one of its hands extended behind its back, ready to punch the echidna. Knuckles stood still, knowing that there was a chance he would die. The echidna smiled at his executioners.

"_Nope . . . . I'll," _Knuckles dashed forward with his fist ready to smash into the Eggling's abdomen. _"Kill 'em all." _

* * *

The scene shifts over to a stuffy G.U.N. building. Soldiers and administrators hurried through the military building's halls, trying to deliver information to their officials. Some of them wore standard military clothing and some of them just wore naval uniforms. One of the soldiers, a human male looking about thirty, walked through the crowd, a serious look on his face. After a couple minutes of walking he made it to his destination, the captain's office. The soldier raised his hand to knock on the door, but someone interrupted him before he could.

"Skip the damn formalities, just get your ass in here if you have something important to say." say a voice from within the voice abruptly.

The voice startled the soldier and he cleared his throat before opening the door and walking in. Behind the door was a dark, dimly lit office, with the sounds of some R&B music aloft in the air along with the smell of some fine Red Wine. There was a wooden desk in the middle of the room with a small reading lamp on top. To the right was a bookshelf that seemed to be filled with wine instead of books and on the left wall was filled with badges of honor, certificates and pictures. Above him, a ceiling fan slowly revolved, giving the room a cooler temperature and the lights were on. Behind the desk, was a tall chair with its back turned to the soldier.

"Captain, there has been some new developments on the battlefield," started the soldier. "A new breed of Eggling has been discovered and-"

"Why are you taking this up with me then?" asked the captain from behind the chair. "I'm not one of those damn geeks in the lab."

"I know that, it's just that . . ." said the soldier, his sentence trailing off as he found information somewhat odd.

"That _what_? Either you spit it out now or get the hell out right now I love this song." said the captain snidely as a new song came on.

"Well, the person that discovered the new Egglings . . . Knuckles the Echidna, I believe you know some colleagues of his." said the soldier a bit nervously.

The captain spun around in his chair. The captain was orange tiger with black streaks all over his body. He had a white muzzle and vibrant green eyes that looked a bit irritated. The tiger wore a black tank top under a sleeveless camouflage pattern jacket that was unzipped and a pair of dark green pants with some tightly laced boots. Two dog tags dangled from the tigers' neck but one of them seemed a bit thicker than the other.

"So what if I do?" asked the captain a bit meanly.

"Well, we recommended to him that he should rest for the next couple of days because he was starting to go overboard with the fighting," he said as he recounted the meeting with the echidna. "Instead of doing what we told him to we found him covered with blood and laughing manically," said the soldier normally. "He killed the four new Egglings he calls Juggernauts . . . single handedly." he finished.

A shocked look wiped over the Captain's face at the statement. Everyone knew that Knuckles was going crazy to some degree, but that description was bit scary. Had the echidna gone so far off the edge that he was actually looking for a fight? Maybe he was just venting out some frustration, but if he was laughing while bathing in blood, the there was a strong chance that he was enjoying it. Then it hit the captain. If Knuckles planned on beating Eggman, then the echidna would have to match the doctor's insanity.

"Alright, I've seen this before. A case of bloodlust is what that guy has, pretty bad to," the captain chuckled. "Might as well put it to good use," said the Captain before getting up. "Keep him on some of the tough missions, but have Methane performs some mental evaluations on him in between."

The soldier was about to protest, but stopped, knowing that question a captain's order was a bad idea. The soldier left the captain alone hoping that he was making the right decision. The captain then sighed, even he knew that his choice was a bit extreme. After being in the military business for so long he knew one thing clearly.

You let an uncontrollable mad dog onto the battlefield, then you better be ready to put it down once it starts to eat your men.

* * *

**Review please. **


	24. Apocalypse: Intro

**Disclaimer: Sonic and co. © Sega**

**All variations of Egglings © Blank the Nobody**

Chapter Twenty Three

Apocalypse: Intro

30 minutes before Black Egg Armageddon

* * *

_We were just half an hour away from the end. We never saw it coming either. It was an insane tactic to just launch an attack out of the blue. But then again, we're talking about Eggman here._

* * *

The sky was gray again, giving the city a somewhat melancholy tinge to it. Civilians rested peacefully at the sound of the wind blowing and even though their town looked gloomy, they enjoyed the peace. For some odd reason the sound of gunfire and explosions weren't in the air and instead it was calm and quiet. An irritated sigh sounded off as a cobalt blue hedgehog sat on a building's edge, anxiety eating away at him. A soft gust of wind blew by, it had touched his fur like a hand trying to soothe him, but it failed at putting him at ease. Ever since Knuckles' little mishap with the Juggernauts, Eggling attacks seemed to decrease incredibly. Eggdomes became harder to find and the Egglings went into hiding. Some found it weird, while others found it calming. They wondered if it was a plan, or maybe the Egglings running out of food, either way, there was no usable proof to make any of these theories true and it flustered the scientists, even Tails.

Sonic didn't feel good. There was something in the air that just bothered him and he didn't like it at all. As Sonic sat on the building's edge he thought about his friends who he hasn't seen in days. It was an odd feeling for him to actually worry about his friends. Usually he knew they were okay, but at that time he thought about them every single day hoping that they were getting by.

Amy decided to help G.U.N. in their endeavors by working on the field and sometimes helping the nurses and medics with their patients. Amy wasn't the best doctor, but over time she started to learn the basics around medical equipment and during some missions she would act as the substitute medic. The thought of Amy working alongside soldiers carrying large, dangerous weapons scared Sonic half to death, but he knew that she would have to learn the rules of battle sooner or later.

Tails and Cream continued to work as a pair, if they weren't in the lab helping each other, then they were in the skies taking out Egglings. Sonic found it cute how they were forming a bond with each other, but what he found weird was the fact that they were flirting while a war was going on. From what Sonic had heard, Tails worked as the military's engineer, scientist, chemist and pilot. Even though he worked a wide range of jobs, Cream followed him and the young rabbit, now filled with a renewed determination was always willing to help.

Then there was Knuckles, if that echidna wasn't killing something then he was probably thinking about killing something. Knuckles' mental stability was slowly decreasing and Sonic hoped that they still had enough time before Knuckles turned on them. Everything that the echidna did had to be overdone, every explosion had to be bigger and every enemy he fought had to be killed with style. Sometimes during some of his missions soldiers would have to sedate Knuckles in order to stop him from beating on something that was already dead.

Shadow on the other hand seemed to just disappear off the face of the earth. No one had seen the ebony hedgehog in days, and even though it was normal for Shadow to just vanish, everyone was worried about him. Sonic had met Shadow after the ebony hedgehog had reported seeing the Noct Egglings and Sonic could remember seeing the sadness hiding within the black hedgehog's crimson eyes. Something had happened to him, something that had hurt him emotionally. Sonic would've loved to ask him what was wrong, but even the azure hero knew that he wouldn't get an answer from Shadow.

The blue hedgehog continued to think about his friends, the people who he used to gravitate around him. They were gone now, distant as the clouds in the horizon. For a split second Sonic felt like crying because of his sense of abandonment. He was used to playing and smiling with his friends every day. Now he was forced to do the government's bidding without his allies. At times he would see them, but that was just coincidence or a brief 'hi' or 'hello.'

"Long time no see, Sonic." said a happy, yet familiar voice from behind the hedgehog.

Sonic looked over his shoulder, knowing who the voice belonged to. Knuckles was walking towards him, a smile on the echidna's face and Sonic couldn't decide whether the echidna was happy to see him, or he had just killed something. Knuckles climbed over the edge and sat next to the blue hedgehog and none of them said a word to each other. It had been so long since they had seen each other and Sonic felt bad since they weren't talking to each other. It was awkward being with the red echidna again because of the rumors that Sonic had heard about him. The mutilations, the uncontrollable amounts of pent up rage, Sonic was actually kind of scared of Knuckles now. The hedgehog looked at his friend and he seemed as normal as ever. A cocky smirk was on the echidna's face as he stared off into the horizon as if searching for trouble. There was a new nickname for Knuckles now, Sonic didn't like it though.

"How's it going?" asked the hedgehog curiously. He wanted to know. Everyone wanted to know how the 'Crimson Insanity' was doing.

Knuckles chuckled a bit, as if finding the question a bit strange, but he knew that everyone was informed about his mental breakdowns. He put his hands behind his bed and smiled as he looked at the horizon. It was an odd feeling for Knuckles as he recounted the days with his so called 'mental examiner.' The man he was supposed to consult after every mission was a bit odd and Knuckles somehow felt uncomfortable around him. Every time he walked into the psychiatrist's office, Knuckles could swear that he could smell blood. A lot of it.

"The guy I'm supposed to talk to at the end of every mission is a quack, dude. He's just too calm and collected for my taste," chuckled the echidna as he recounted the strange psychiatrist. "But other than that, I'm fine." he finished reassuringly.

Sonic stifled a laugh at the echidna's statement, knowing that he would probably get better in due time. "Of course he's calm, Knux, all psychiatrists are calm. They're supposed to." said Knuckles.

The echidna scoffed and nudged Sonic playfully. "Shut up!" he chuckled.

After sharing a couple of laughs and stories, the two began to calm down. They were finally having a normal conversation like old times. Sonic then looked at the city in front of him a smile on his face, hoping that today would be peaceful like the past couple of days. Both of them began to relax and enjoy the peace, while they continued to swap stories, knowing that it wouldn't last any longer. It was some trait they had acquired after dealing with Eggman for so long. Peace would never last for too long and they had a hunch that it would probably end today.

As they continued to chat, something foul smelling then entered the atmosphere. Sonic looked around trying to find the source of the horrible smell and so did Knuckles. They weren't too surprised though, because both of them knew exactly what the smell was. It was all too familiar to them. It smelled like . . .

Blood

Smoke

And gunpowder

A large explosion sounded off before shaking the ground violently and almost making Sonic fall off of his perch on the incredibly high building. Knuckles jumped to his feet once the shaking had stopped and the echidna looked at the direction where the explosion had come from. Sonic slowly stood up, slightly saddened at the thought of his peace ruined. He looked at the same direction where Knuckles was staring and he found a tall pillar of black smoke rise from one of the G.U.N. safety zones. At first it didn't seem bad, and Sonic thought he could end whatever was happening in a couple of minutes. But another explosion sounded a couple miles away from the first and the two of them knew that it was a G.U.N. medical station. Two large towers of smoke snaked up into the gray sky as the Egglings roared and as the soldiers fought back. Whatever was happening, Sonic had the feeling that it was coordinated and planned.

From the corner of his eye, Sonic could see the gleam coming off of Knuckles' evil grin and the hedgehog's spine tingled at the sight of the mad echidna. He had the urge to say something to Knuckles, something along the lines of 'Don't overdo it' or 'Try not to go overboard' but Sonic just couldn't get the words out of his mouth. So he decided not to. He pushed the thoughts into the back of his head as he looked down trying to tell whether the drop from the building's rooftop would be painful or not. Before he could even finish his rough calculations, a maniacal laugh entered the air and Sonic looked to his side to find that Knuckles wasn't there anymore. The crimson echidna had already jumped off the edge of the building without thinking and was no barreling down towards the ground. Sonic released an irritated sigh at the sight of his friend recklessly risking his life and he began to run down the deserted building's glass windows.

Knuckles fell through the air like an anvil, but he didn't really care. He could see the concrete floor getting closer and he smiled. Knuckles raised his fists in front of his head and he slammed into the ground, with his fist instead of his head. Not shaken by the impact at all, Knuckles got to his feet and stretched his arms, ready for a fight. Sonic then made it down to the ground and he stopped next to the grinning Knuckles. The hedgehog could tell that Knuckles' insanity was affecting how he acted and he knew that Knuckles was just begging for a fight.

"Let's go." said Knuckles evilly, before speeding off into the direction of the nearest explosion.

Sonic followed after Knuckles at a luxury speed, knowing that the echidna couldn't catch up to him at full. As they got closer to ground zero, the sounds of gunfire got louder and so did the smell of blood. Both of them were too familiar with warfare now, there perception of life changed because of it. Sonic didn't like the change though, he liked it when he was himself, when he wasn't afraid.

They rounded around a corner and a couple feet ahead of them they could see a squad of soldiers firing into the same direction at an enemy that Sonic and Knuckles couldn't see. A small sports car flew over the group of soldiers as they continued to shoot bravely at whatever beast was attacking them. Another roar filled the air and Knuckles recognized it instantly as a Juggernaut's angry howl and the evil smile on Knuckles' face grew wider as they closed in. Sonic on the other hand was a bit nervous. His heart was beating rapidly so he took deep breaths in order to slow it down as much as he could.

Both of them entered the battle at the same time and they looked around taking in the sights of yet another battle. Egglings were scattered everywhere, ranging from the normal Grunts to Juggernauts. They all seemed to be destroying or killing something and in Knuckles eyes it was as beautiful as an orchestra. Sonic looked around, trying to figure out who to help first. Before he could even speak, Knuckles just dashed off towards the Juggernauts, an evil cackle erupting from the mad echidna. Sonic watched his friend run into battle fearlessly and he couldn't tell whether it was the best idea or the stupidest. Instead of running after him, Sonic curled into a spin dash position and started to roll around, running into Grunt Egglings and tearing them to pieces.

Somewhere else near Sonic, a pink hedgehog ran into the battlefield, her large hammer in hand and a determined scowl on her face. Amy looked at the mess in front of her and she cringed the the gore around her. Before her encounter with the Avian Egglings, she would've thrown up at the sight of blood, but now it was a common sight for her. She was used to battling these horrible creatures and her fighting skills were so great that no one called her the Damsel in Distress anymore. Amy actually felt proud of herself. To go from a defenseless girl to a feared woman on the battlefield made her feel like she had won some award of some sort. All she wanted to do now was go see Sonic again and show him how strong she had become.

Seconds before she could run into the battle, a familiar blue streak passed her and for a second she thought she was hallucinating. She turned to look for the blue blur she found it instantly. She smiled at the sight and just like old times, she began to chase after her hero.

The blue streak continued to pin ball off of enemies and objects while Amy followed swiftly. After so long she hadn't lost her touch when it came to chasing after her love and she was proud of herself for not losing that one of a kind technique. Sonic started to zoom toward a large Juggernaut who hadn't seen him and the cobalt hedgehog rammed into its abdomen furiously. The large Eggling staggered backwards as Sonic bounced back and uncurled so he could land on his feet. The Juggernaut regained its balance and let out an angered roar before charging at him. Sonic was ready to fight it but before it could even get close, Sonic saw a pink blur pass by him and attack the Juggernaut. Amy smashed her hammer into the creature's face with a loud crack and the creature fell onto its back, dead.

Amy then landed on her feet and looked over her shoulder to find a surprised Sonic.

"Amy?" asked Sonic, his mouth gaping open in surprise.

The pink hedgehog smiled back at him. "We can talk later, we have people to save." she said simply.

Sonic nodded and the two teamed up and began to take down more Egglings.

Meanwhile, Knuckles leapt onto one of the Avians and he bashed its head maercilessly as the flying creature tried to shake him off. Knuckles continued to cackle madly at the struggling Eggling he controlled and the echidna drove the Avian into a wall before jumping off and landing in the middle of the mob of Egglings. He was killing everything that moved and he didn't care at all. His movements were precise, his attacks were dangerous and the only thing driving him forward were his instincts and his will to kill everyone related to Eggman.

All of the Egglings surrounding Knuckles turned to face the echidna and as if on cue, they all pounced on him at the same time. In a matter of seconds there was a large pile of Grunt Egglings covering Knuckles. The pile shook a little, while Knuckles tried to get free. His rage spiked, and the pile of Egglings seemed to explode as Knuckles finally got free. Grunt Egglins crashed onto the ground around the echidna was he walked forward, the same smile on his face.

"Come on you bunch of pussies! Bring on your best fighters! I'll fucking crush 'em!" yelled Knuckles as he looked around psychotically.

Two Grunt Egglings charged him at the same time and Knuckles launched a swift right hook into the face of one Eggling, fracturing its skull instantly and he grabbed the other Eggling by the throat. The echidna raised the weak monster off of the ground and he punched it in the face sadistically. Even though it was already dead, Knuckles continued to punch, releasing his anger onto the body like a man with a stress ball.

Knuckles then threw the dead Eggling aside before he looked around, trying to find some Juggernauts that would hold his attention. The large Egglings were the only ones that he seemed to be intrigued in. They were big strong and ugly, just how Knuckles liked them. A couple feet away from him a Juggernaut was pounding a G.U.N. tank that sputtered and whizzed with electricity as the operators within it tried to make it functional. Knuckles smiled at the sight before dashing off to fight the Juggernaut.

* * *

At the G.U.N. Medical Station, Avians flew over the destruction in a huge flock, all of them screeching loudly, trying to disorient the soldiers who were fighting. Large ground to air turrets thumped repeatedly as they discharged large automatic rounds into flying Egglings above, while soldiers fired at the fast moving Grunts on the ground that seemed to climb over walls of sandbags with ease. Unusable bullet casings clinked onto the ground as the soldiers fired fearlessly into the swarm of creatures charging them. Somewhere within the squad of human soldiers stood a single Mobian, the Captain. The tiger held a P90 machine gun and there was an angry smirk on his face.

"Men! You protect this medical station!" he yelled over the gunfire. "Or you die trying!" he finished before raising his P90 and firing into the swarm.

His brave soldiers all replied with a booming 'Sir yes sir!' and the captain felt pleased that he had trained his men well. As time went by the body count increased and the Egglings started to get closer to the military lines. Despite the soldiers' best efforts, they weren't thinning the Eggling's numbers. Almost every shot that was taken was a head shot and the soldiers made every shot count. The line of soldiers was bright with the gunfire and it looked like some sort of climactic scene from a movie. All of the soldiers fought fearlessly and all of them wanted the Eggling's dead.

Only a couple minutes went by before the bulk of the Eggling attack came forward and a large Juggernaut Eggling seemed to appear from within the group. The soldier's bullets just seemed to bounce off of the hulking abomination's body and it plowed through their defenses with ease. The sight of the creature slowly approaching their lines made some soldiers nervous, but even though they knew that there was a huge chance that they would die, they didn't run. They would follow their Captain's orders to the very end. They would protect the Medical Station, or die trying.

"Captain! It's getting closer!" yelled a somewhat panicked soldier from his post.

The captain scoffed at the soldier and he continued to fire. He was waiting from someone to come, someone important. The captain didn't reply and the soldiers got the message that they were to keep on firing. Even though they could see the Egglings coming closer, the soldiers kept their fingers firmly grasped on their triggers. All of the soldiers knew that they could rely on their captain and that his orders were to be strictly followed. If there were no new orders given then they would stick to the orders they have. This level obedience was something any captain would want, but sometimes it would be a curse if an order were to be given at the wrong time.

Eggling began to jump over the last barricade and they started to get closer to the soldiers.

"Orders stay the same men! Shoot or die!" yelled the captain angrily.

"Sir yes sir!" came the booming reply from his men.

More gunfire sounded, but the bullets wouldn't stop the single Juggernaut from charging at them. The large Eggling burst through the last concrete piece cover they had and now it began to tear apart the soldiers, which allowed the Grunt Egglings to swarm the medical station behind them. Nurses, doctors and injured soldiers screamed in agony as they were torn apart and the soldiers fighting outside tried their hardest to take out as many Egglings as they could. The Captain cursed silently as he watched his men get slaughtered and he prayed that his 'guest of honor' would show up earlier as he continued to fire repeatedly..

With a loud roar, the Juggernaut swung its arms in front it, smashing its fist into Grunt Egglings and soldiers alike. It was only a couple more feet away from the medical station and the captain had to at least stop it from destroying the building. The Juggernaut, now only a couple steps away from the entrance of the medical station seemed to smile in delight, knowing that it would have a chance to kill more people. But before he could take another step forward, a cold, cynical voice entered the atmosphere.

"Chaos . . . ."

A light started to build up in front of the Juggernaut and the large creature looked at it curiously. Behind the growing light, was a very familiar black hedgehog, his hand facing the Juggernaut. There was an angry expression on the ebony hedgehog's face as the Chaos Energy grew in the palm of his hand. Shadow wanted all of the Egglings dead, each and every one of them. Usually he would rather watch the world burn and die, but this time he had a reason. He wanted to go to his home away from home, the Underground. His emotions seemed to fuel his attack as well and the light in his hand got a red tinge as he focused his hatred into it. Shadow then realized something. He was accessing an attack that he had learned long ago with Anubis, during his time in the Underground.

"Voulge!"

A large beam of red and black energy spewed out of Shadow's hand and it slammed right into the Juggernaut. The immense power within the beam vaporizing the beast almost instantly. The beam continued to shoot forward for another five blocks, vaporizing everything from concrete, metal, Egglings and soldiers. Seconds later the beam died down and the only thing left in its wake was black smoke and the smell of dead, burning bodies. The attack had the power of a two Chaos Blasts, except focused into a strong beam.

A smile creased onto the Captain's face at the sight of the hedgehog finally contributing for the right side of the war. Everyone seemed to stop what they were doing and look in awe at the power that Shadow had presented. Egglings stood frozen in place, eyes glaring at the sight of their missing comrades and the soldiers had the same surprised and scared expression.

Seconds later all of the Grunt Egglings seemed to run away. The Egglings ran away in a large herd like sheep. The remaining soldiers, still frozen in place, looked at Shadow with shocked and disbelieved expression. Not before long they all started to cheer happily at the battle that Shadow had won for them and Shadow responded with a cold glare, but it didn't stop the cheering and laughing. The Captain walked towards the hedgehog a smirk on the tiger's face.

"Guess those damn scientists were right with their prediction," said the captain slyly. The tiger then looked at the hedgehog, the smirk still on his face. "Thanks for helping, but you're not done yet, we have some things we need you to do." he said slyly, as Shadow raised in an intrigued eyebrow.

* * *

Amy raised her hammer above her head, ready to smash it into an Eggling's face. But before she could, a large blast was heard and everyone around her seemed to stop and look around, trying to find the source. Seconds later all of the Egglings retreated from the battlefield like a pack of scared sheep. Amy watched as the Egglings ran and she had no idea whether she should celebrate or not. The people around her answered the question for her and everyone seemed to celebrate and cheer, thinking that it was over. Across from her, Sonic had the same questionable expression. Both of them then looked at each, exchanging the same confused glances.

Knuckles then walked towards them, a serious look on his face. The echidna could tell that there was something wrong. The blast wasn't the cause for the Egglings running away, it was something else. He knew that the Egglings were playing with them, pretending to run away scared. Egglings never ran away, they fell back and regrouped for another attack.

"Something's off." said Knuckles normally.

The echidna's right fist was coated in blood and there was a small metal piece of shrapnel in his right thigh. Knuckles took hold of the sharp piece of metal and yanked it out with a pained grunt before throwing to the ground as if it were nothing. Sonic and Amy were amazed to see how dedicated Knuckles was to fighting and killing, but they knew Knuckles' insanity was probably the reason for his outstanding behavior. They knew that Knuckles used to know his own limit, know the echidna acted like he was the strongest person there was.

"Guys!" called a familiar voice in the distance.

The trio turned to see Tails running towards them, Cream following close behind the fox. Cheese was nowhere in sight, but I guess Cream wouldn't allow the chao on the battlefield with her. Once Tails made it over to the group, they could tell that whatever news Tails had was probably urgent.

"What's up little buddy?" asked Sonic, a somewhat worried look on his face.

"This is coming straight from the General," said Tails seriously. "Amy, Cream and I are to take you to the medical station and help out there," said the fox, Amy nodded. "Sonic and Knuckles, we've found Eggman, head to Twinkle Park." said the fox sternly.

Knuckles and Sonic had two separate reactions to the news. A happy smile appeared onto Knuckles' face, knowing that he would finally be able to fight the person who had killed his girlfriend. Sonic on the other hand took the news a bit more seriously. Sonic wanted to finally defeat Eggman. He wanted to make him pay for everything he has done. And for once Sonic had this urge he never had before.

He wanted to really, kill, Eggman.

* * *

**This was a long on, but hey, constantly improving.**

**You're probably wondering what Chaos Voulge is. It is a new move that Shadow learned during his stay at in the Underground. To put it simply, it's a Chaos Lance amplified by his emotions, more specifically the emotion, hate. Oh, a voulge is a different variation of a spear for your information. Sticking to the names (Chaos Spear, Chaos Lance) I thought, might as well name it after another spear-like weapon. **

**Working on another story as well. Go on my profile to find the link to the story about my OC Blank Payj. It's right under his stats. I'm also thinking about posting said story on fanfiction. In your review/in my poll, please tell me whether I should post that story here or not.**

**Please Review.**


	25. Apocalypse: Death

**Disclaimer: Sonic and co. © Sega**

**All variations of Egglings © Blank the Nobody**

Chapter Twenty Four

Apocalypse: Death

1 Hour after Black Egg Armageddon had started

* * *

_I thought it would be the end, I really hoped it would be the end. In my head I thought that just because I'm the hero that I would always win, why . . . . do I have to be wrong?_

* * *

An hour after the attack had begun, people and soldiers started to report Egglings attacks everywhere. The first two raids were only the beginning and now the Egglings were starting to pour it on. Gunfire and screaming filled the air as the Egglings attacked relentlessly. The atmosphere was filled with violence and the smell of blood, which combined into a horrible Armageddon-like surrounding. It didn't go unnoticed though and the generals and captains were starting to call the day the Black Egg Armageddon.

Soldiers hurried through the streets, their faces covered with sweat from both fatigue and fear. For most of them, it was their second or third time in battle, but for the rest, they were new faces taking part in an old war. The squad curved around a corner, and hid behind a foul smelling dumpster within an alleyway and looked around for any possible threats. A flock of Avians flew overhead without noticing the squadron, and the flying abominations let out their loud screeches.

"God! Fucking! Damnit!"

The soldiers looked ahead to see a large bus be throw through the air like a play toy. A loud, angry roar then filled the air as a red echidna skidded across the ground on his back. The angered echidna got back to his feet and stared at something that the squad of soldiers couldn't see. A small taxi was then thrown at the echidna, but he quickly responded by punching it to the side.

"Hurry up Sonic! Stop fucking around! I want to find Eggman already!" yelled Knuckles before running forward.

Shocked and awed at Knuckles actions, the soldiers just stood there, not saying a word to each other. Their commanding officer then broke the silence and ordered the group to continue with their mission. They knew that Knuckles was angry, they knew that he was bloodthirsty and the definitely knew that it wouldn't be a good idea to get in the Crimson Insanity's way. The squad then left Knuckles to fight whatever foe was in his way and they wished him the best of luck.

A large Juggernaut swung its large fists around him trying to hit a speedy blue blur that was constantly hitting it. Sonic's attacks were damaging the Juggernaut, but not enough to kill it. The azure hedgehog then bounced back and landed on his feet, a smirk on his face. He was just as anxious as Knuckles when it came to their search for Eggman and he wanted to get rid of any distraction in his way. Sonic then curled into his Spin Dash position and the blue ball began to rotate furiously, charging up his attack. Instead of launching himself forward, Knuckles came up behind him and punched Sonic forward at high speeds.

Sonic's revolving blue form smashed into the Juggernaut's abdomen with the power of a speeding freight train, making the Juggernaut stagger backwards, all of its ribs completely fractured and useless. The Juggernaut then fell on its back dead, its heart stabbed by one of its broken bone fragments. The azure hedgehog then landed on his feet and looked at the dead body. Before Eggman's transformation, he was used to destroying robots, but now he was killing monsters, creatures that used to be people at one point of time. Sonic looked forward at the road ahead of him. He didn't care that the Egglings used to be people, sacrifices had to be made in order to win the battle.

Knuckles walked up next to the hedgehog, the same insane smile on his face that seemed to mimic Eggman's smile. Normally Sonic would cringe at the sight, but he really didn't care. Sonic then looked around, trying to find any other Eggling that might get in their way and he quickly found that there was nobody else there left to distract him. The hedgehog and echidna looked at each other before nodding in recognition. The duo then sped off towards Twinkle Park, ready to battle the crazed doctor that had started everything.

Both of them were ready for a fight. One of them wanted revenge for a fallen friend. While the other wanted to end the armageddon. Sonic lead the way like the leader he was at the time. His mind set on the battle ahead of him. The hedgehog tried to envision the doctor, trying to imagine if the doctor had changed in any way. He then began to plan his attack, he pictured every attack, every possibility, but it didn't do him much because he wasn't much of a strategist. Instead, Sonic just hoped for the best, he hoped that today would be the end.

Things were different for Knuckles though. Instead of trying to plan, he just imagined himself beating the living hell out of Eggman. He was cocky, he was being foolish. Knuckles thought he was strong enough, that he didn't even question his strength. He had tested his power so many times, trained under the hardest conditions and fought the biggest and worst of enemies. Blinding himself with thoughts of victory was both a fool's act and yet one of the greatest things he had done so far. If he thought himself weaker then Eggman, then he would definitely lose, but if he envisioned himself as someone stronger then he might have a fighting chance. But it was a double sided blade. Even if he thought of himself highly, then his cockiness might take him over and make him lose the battle, which is something Knuckles didn't want. The echidna pushed the thoughts of failure to the back of his head and he pushed onwards.

The two of them rounded around another corner, the ruined remains of Twinkle Park ahead of them. At first they couldn't see anything, but they could feel a cold sensation crawling up both their spines. Sonic was scared, while Knuckles just let his own adrenaline flow freely through his body. The two then saw something odd sitting in the middle of the park and they gasped as they realized what it was.

Standing high in the middle of Twinkle Park was a large pile of Eggman's old robots, dead G.U.N. soldiers and destroyed tanks. On top of the mound stood a large, almost brutish man, with muscles ten times the size of a human muscle. The brute wore nothing but black skin tight pants that seemed to be made of some durable latex and the could see the long orange mustache protruding from the giant's face. The figure had its back turned to the two, but neither of them had to guess who it was. A large metal plate with some metal spine-like structure seemed to be integrated into the brute's back and two large vials of hideous black liquid seemed to jut out of the plate, like water feeders to a hamster cage.

"The dead robots symbolize my new hatred for mechanical slaves," started the hulking figure, in a low evil tone, as he continued to look away from the two. "The dead soldiers and ruined tanks," He then turned around to face the two, the same, gleaming white smile greeting them. "well, you can just say I got bored waiting for you to get here."

Sonic and Knuckles took fighting stances while Eggman seemed to take a step back in surprise. The doctor looked at Knuckles, his eyes still hidden behind the round glasses he always wore. Eggman took one step off the mound, the sound of metal crunching under his foot as he did.

"Knuckles, didn't expect you to be here," said Eggman in a shocked tone. "I should've made more arrangements," he said tapping the side of his chin, thinking. "Oh well, this will have to do."

Eggman seemed to disappear in a blur of motion. Afterimages of Eggman started to appear and disappear around the two as the doctor started to play mind games with them, making it look like he was there one second and gone the next. Knuckles, shocked by the astounding speed looked around trying to find the real doctor. Sonic didn't have to though. The hedgehog was used to tracing speed like his, and Sonic found it weird how Eggman's speed seemed to match his own. Eggman then stepped forward behind Sonic, his arm drawn back, ready for a punch and he shot it forward. Surprised by Eggman's speed, Sonic looked behind him, still too late to do anything about Eggman's attack. Luckily, he didn't need to.

Knuckles shoved Sonic aside and took his place before the attack could land. The echidna then drew his arm back and shot it forward at Eggman's fist. The immense power of Knuckles and Eggman's attacks hitting each other made a loud thunder-like sound enter the air before sending off a large sound wave, making dust and pebbles rattle and jump. Sonic looked at the sight, amazed that Knuckles punch was able to match Eggman's and vice versa. Knuckles smirked at the sight, he felt perfectly fine and the doctor looked a bit impressed.

"Someone's been training." cooed the doctor playfully as he continued to smile.

The echidna chuckled a bit. "Damn right," said Knuckles cockily. "besides, I've been looking forward to this for a looooooong time." he said maliciously.

Sonic -who had already gotten to his feet- curled into Spin Dash position and rammed into the side of Eggman's head, causing the hulking doctor to stagger to the side. The hedgehog then landed on his feet while Knuckles charged the doctor and launched a swift punch at his abdomen, which caused him to skid backwards from the impact of Knuckles', now steel hard, fist. The doctor skid backwards and crashed into an old carnival game stand, making the decayed wooden posts fall onto him in a loud crash.

Both of them watched as the doctor threw rotten pieces of wood off of him before getting up, there was a large piece of wood sticking out of the brute's side and Eggman clenched his teeth as he ripped it out. Sonic was starting to feel good. He had landed a few attacks and now Eggman was hurt, which was something he hadn't done in a long time. Knuckles on the other hand was starting to find things a bit strange. The echidna had fought Juggernauts twice as stronger than Eggman, is the doctor hiding something? Before Knuckles could ponder the question for much longer, the doctor started to laugh evilly as his smile got wider.

"I knew you two wouldn't disappoint me," said the doctor evilly as the black liquid held in the containers embedded in his back started to drain into his blood system. Sonic and Knuckles watched in horror as Eggman's wound started to heal and his muscles start to get bigger by the second. "That's why," he stood up, his body now fifteen feet tall and his muscles now twice as thick. "I had to take some precautions." His veins were filled with the vile liquid, making some of his veins visible and black. Some of the liquid seemed to burst out of his body, but instead of tracing downwards like blood, it moved and waved around like a living thing. The black liquid then seeped back into Eggman's body as the wound healed up.

Fear took over every single nerve in Sonic's body at the new Eggman. He didn't retreat though, he didn't fall to his knees in fear. No, Sonic was ready for this and in some weird way, he was expecting this. Knuckles chuckled at the transformed doctor and he began to stretch his arms in preparation for the battle ahead.

"Come on Sonic, we've got some work to do." said Knuckles manically before leaping forward at the insane doctor.

* * *

A loud helicopter flew over head, its five automated turret beating off a loud staccato of bullets at the Avians that flew around it. Tails maneuvered the large battle chopper through large flocks of Avians as they flew at him, trying to attack, while Cream continued to point and shoot the large turret that she commanded. Below them Amy and a handful of soldiers battled the normal Grunt Egglings to the best of their ability. The soldiers were entrenched in a large, round fountain that had no more water in it, but the large walls provided good cover, while Amy ran in the battlefield, swinging her hammer around at the Egglings that surrounded her.

Amy brought down her hammer onto an Eggling's skull with a bloody crack and she turned to find another target, an angry smirk on her face. She was angry once again and her she decided to unleash her rage onto the Egglings. Two Egglings leapt at her from behind, and in response, the pink hedgehog swerved around swiftly and swung her arm in a baseball bat swinging motion, smashing her hammer into both Egglings and sending them flying.

The ground then started to shake tremendously causing Amy to lose her balance. She fell to on her butt and started to look around, trying to find the cause of the tremors. Behind her a large Juggernaut charged at and once it had reached Amy it brought both of its arms above its head, ready to smash it down on the pink hedgehog. Amy put her arms in front of her, but she knew that even if she tried to block the attack it wouldn't do her much good.

Before the Juggernaut could release its attack, a black hedgehog jumped up in the air and smashed his foot into the large Egglings face. Shadow then performed a back flip before landing on the ground next to Amy as the brute fell on its side. The Ultimate Life-form seemed unchanged by battle and Amy wasn't the least bit surprised. She got to her feet and examined the ebony hedgehog standing next to her. Amy hadn't seen the black hedgehog in days and wondered if there was some physical evidence as to why. There were no injuries on his body, and he still wore that serious smirk, making the pink hedgehog think that it was probably a personal reason for the disappearance.

"Where's Sonic?" asked Shadow coldly, as the Juggernaut started to get back to its feet.

Amy brought her hammer up to her side, ready to fight. "He and Knuckles went to go find Eggman at Twinkle Park," she answered stoutly. "Why?"

"Because both of them are going to die." said Shadow normally, as if nothing was wrong. Shadow then raised his hand, palm facing the Juggernaut who was on his knees shaking the pain off. Amy was shocked at the ebony hedgehog's words, and yet he still continued to fight. "Chaos," Began Shadow, using the same words as always, as a bright light started to glow in his palm. The Juggernaut turned to face the hedgehog and angered look on its face. Instead of adding a yell or shout, Shadow just said the last words calmly and coldly. "Spear."

A medium sized bolt of energy shot out of his hand and smashed into the Juggernaut's face, frying its skull and brain instantly. The useless body then fell to its side, smoke coming off of its burnt and unrecognizable face. Amy, still shocked at Shadow's words grabbed the Ultimate Life-form's shoulder and turned him around.

"What do you mean they're going to die!?" she asked, her voice a mixture of nervousness, fear and anger.

Somewhere else, a couple miles away from Amy and Shadow, a large explosion sounded before a plume of black smoke rose up into the air. The explosion caused the ground to shake furiously, almost making Amy fall if Shadow hadn't caught her. Both the pink and the black hedgehog looked towards the directions of the explosion, a shocked expression on Amy face and a serious one on Shadow's.

"If that man has the power to take me on, then he definitely has the power to take on those two." said Shadow seriously as he watched the black plume dissipate into nothing. Shadow then turned to face Amy. "We've got to move, now." he said before dragging Amy off with her.

* * *

Knuckles stood up, his form trembling from the explosion. Behind him was a blown up gas tank, the source of the explosion. Blood was starting to seep out of his new wounds and the echidna was sweating profusely. Flames fluttered around him from the ignited gasoline and the echidna coughed up a gob of blood. He was injured badly and yet he didn't want to admit it, he didn't want to show weakness, not at that dire time. Eggman stood in front of him, untouched by the flames and attacks, the same smile on his face, mocking the tired Guardian. Sonic –who was just as injured as Knuckles- was thrown off by the explosion and the hero lay on his back next to Knuckles. The hedgehog was panting heavily, pain wracking the nerves all over his body.

"That can't be all," said Eggman a bit of shock in his voice. "You two must have some other plan to defeat me," he said walking forward.

Sonic forced himself up into a sitting position, pain stinging the back of his spine. The azure hero then got to his feet and helped Knuckles up. In truth they had no plan to begin with. They just rushed in with hopes of victory. Knuckles charged the doctor, still thinking that he was stronger and he launched a punch at Eggman's stomach. The doctor didn't move, he didn't even flinch at the attack. The Guardian looked up to see the doctor's malicious smile and for a split second, Knuckles was scared.

Eggman chuckled as he drew his foot back and drove it into Knuckles' abdomen, the force, cracking almost all of his ribs. The pain was immense and Knuckles screamed in pain as he skid backwards from the attack. Sonic watched as his friend slide to a stop and seeing the echidna in so much pain almost made the hedgehog shed a tear. Sonic looked at the doctor, Eggman's smile mocking the hero, this was failure and now the hedgehog finally got a good taste of it. He had failed his friends, the people, the entire world and now they would suffer. A tear finally escaped one of Sonic's eyes, tracing down his cheek and falling onto the concrete under him. He tried to stand up, but his body wouldn't let him, he tried to think one positive thought, but there was nothing but sadness. He was a failure, a complete and utter failure.

"_No"_

His body seemed to start working again and he got to his feet.

"_I'm the hero."_

He had finally rekindled his fighting spirit, his hope for a new day. Sonic looked at Eggman with a look filled with anger, seriousness and most of all, fighting spirit.

"Atta' boy, Sonic," said Eggman as he watched the hedgehog get up. "Muster up as much fighting spirit as you can, because I'm just going to smash it into pieces."

Sonic then charged the doctor at a speed that was almost invisible to the normal eye. The hedgehog jumped up, ready to smash his fist into Eggman's face. The azure hero could see the same, unbroken, insane smile on the doctor's face and Sonic felt a bit disturbed. A hand then shot out and Eggman seized the blue blur by the neck.

* * *

_That was it, right there._

_After the doctor had grabbed my neck, Knuckles tried to save me and failed and now both of my legs were under Eggman's boot. I could feel the pressure slowly start to weight down on my most precious of limbs. _

_I had lost too much blood and another attack would kill me_

_I had failed everyone._

_Then he finally did it._

_He broke both of my legs and my heart . . ._

_My heart stopped._

_No miraculous revival._

_No Chaos Emeralds that would transform me into my Super Form._

_I was dead_

_Plain and simple_

_But that wasn't the end._

_Oh no_

_My death is only the beginning._

* * *

"Get up," said a female voice that Sonic didn't recognize.

It wasn't Amy's voice and it definitely wasn't Cream's. Sonic wondered who it was but he found that he had his eyes closed. The azure hedgehog opened his eyes to find that he was standing upright. The pain he had felt only seconds ago was gone and the hedgehog just had to wonder why. Sonic looked around, finding that he was still in Twinkle Park, but there was something wrong. It was quiet, really quiet. Sonic looked behind him and he almost fell over from the sight.

He could see Eggman frozen in time, his foot right over a blue hedgehog's legs, his legs. Sonic wondered how he was in two places at the same time and yet for some odd reason it didn't bother him.

"Over here." said the same female voice.

Sonic turned around to find a figure cloaked in black standing behind him. The figure seemed to seep a horrible black aura and it held a scythe in one hand. Sonic could remember one person that looked like that and his spine shuddered at the thought.

"Am I . . ." Sonic gulped nervously as a bead of sweat traced down his forehead, "Dead?"

The Reaper giggled.

"Yup."

* * *

**Still debating on some things in my head, but I'll tell you guys/gals later.**

**My poll is still open. The question in general is: Should I or should I not upload the story about my main OC character Blank Payj on fanfiction?**

**Another one of my stories is up. It's called 'Shadow's Redemption' a story of love, hate and action as Shadow tries to find Maria once more from the depths of the Underground. Basically the story to how Shadow met and became friends with Anubis.  
**

**Oh and the female Reaper is one of my OC's, teehee. **

**Please Review! **


	26. Requiems, Lessons and Miracles

**Disclaimer: Sonic and co © Sega**

**All variations of Egglings and Lilith Kaynon © Blank the Nobody**

Chapter Twenty Five

Requiems, Lessons and Miracles

1 Hour and 45 Minutes after Black Egg Armageddon had started

* * *

"_Hope is faith holding out its hand in the dark."_

_-George Iles_

* * *

A chill ran up Sonic's spine as he came to the shocking realization to what had finally happened to him. His emerald eyes stayed fixated on the figure cloaked in black standing in front of him. Twinkle Park had been frozen in time, the flames stuck in their fiery positions and Eggman's foot which was firmly placed on Sonic's physical body. The air was cold and odorless, but the scent of blood seemed to linger around in the azure hero's nostrils.

His body no longer hurt since he was in his spiritual form, and yet he could still feel pain. His heart felt heavy and he could feel his soul getting crushed, knowing that he wasn't able to say goodbye to his friends. That wasn't really the way he wanted to go out. He didn't want to die like some pitiful weakling; he wanted to die to knowing that he had saved the world one last time. Or die after growing old with his friends, with the person he loved the most, Amy. He found the thought ironic. The one time he confessed to his love, the one time he wanted to express his feelings towards Amy, his life just had to be taken from him, like an unborn baby being killed in the womb. Sonic felt like he had never gotten the chance to express all of his love.

But now he was dead and that thought hurt much more.

Most of the time he was pushed to the brink of death, but never before had he crossed the line. Sonic fought back his own tears, but he couldn't and a stream of warm tears cascaded down his cheeks as he broke down on his knees. Never before was he forced to slowly accept the fact of his own death. Why did he have to suffer? Why did he have to be shown his own death? Was it really how he was supposed to go out? Either way, Death had finally taken him, the Reaper had at last taken hold of the greatest hero in all of Mobius.

The figure clad in a black cloak walked towards him and looked down at the hedgehog crying on the ground. Sonic looked up to see that the figure -who he called the Reaper- still had its hood drawn so her face was still covered in the darkness. The Reaper drew its hood back and Sonic was shocked to see that the Grim Reaper looked nothing like the depictions inside of books and artwork. For a second he thought he was hallucinating, but he was dead so it really didn't matter much

"Get up," said the Reaper as she stretched an arm out to help Sonic up, her voice matching that of a teenage girl's.

Sonic hesitantly took hold of the Reaper's hand and got back to his feet, his legs still shaking and some dried tears on his face. The azure hedgehog looked at the so called Reaper, and he made sure that his jaw didn't drop open in shock at what _she _looked like.

The Reaper -a girl looking about Sonic's age- was a Husky, with bright green eyes, white fur and long white hair with two bangs covering her left eye. Her slender body fit easily into the black cloak that she wore and without her hood, the azure hero could see that she meant him no harm. It was a weird feeling, knowing that Death was trying to help him instead of take his soul. Sonic was thankful for not being killed, maybe there was some greater purpose behind all this.

She stretched out a white furred hand, a warm smile on her face. "I'm Lilith, you don't need to tell me your name, I know all about you." she said kindly.

Sonic grabbed and shook Lilith's hand and instead of feeling cold, the girl's hand was actually warm, like she was alive. Like she cared.

"So I'm dead right?" asked the hedgehog as he withdrew his hand to scratch the back of his head, a confused look on his face.

"Technically speaking yes, you are dead," Lilith walked behind Sonic and stared at Eggman's frozen expression of happiness and joy. "But this is actually a near death experience, so after our talk, you'll be up and running again." The second to last word in her sentence hurt Sonic.

'Running' Sonic remembered his last moments back in the physical realm. The pain he felt as Eggman broke both of his legs by the knees. He cringed at the pain as he remembered it and he turned to face Lilith. "How can I run, when Eggman broke both of my legs?" he asked, pointing to the monster's foot, which was crushing Sonic's physical body.

Lilith looked down at Eggman's foot, a disgusted look onto her face at the sadistic sight. Sonic's physical body was frozen in its last moments, crying and pleading for mercy. It was a horrible expression, something that she tried to avoid at all times. But she had seen many deaths during her time on the job and she had guided so many souls into the afterlife. She had witness loved ones dying on a hospital bed, murderers being executed in the electric chair, rape victims being killed sadistically and even soldiers horrifically dying on the battlefield. Everywhere she went there was death, but that was no surprise since she was Death given breath.

"Listen to what I have to say and I'll give you back your legs." she said plainly, helping people wasn't in her job description, but she wanted to help Sonic because if she didn't then there would be a lot more souls to take.

A shocked look swept over Sonic's face at the words and seconds later his ears were at attention. His legs were his most prized possessions, without them he wouldn't be useless.

"Alright, I'm listening." he said eagerly, ready to get back to the world of the living and back to his friends.

Lilith turned to face the hedgehog, a calm, yet hollow expression on her face. "Why do you think you died?" she asked, her tone suddenly cold as ice.

Sonic took a step back, a confused look on his face and his mouth gaping open with no words coming out. He really had no clue how to answer the question, and yet he had the feeling that he did know the answer. The azure looked at the ground, trying to find the right words to answer the question, but he was utterly speechless. He had never died before, so finding the reason for his death was hard for him since there were a lot of contributing factors. Like his fear, his nervousness, his strong anger that seemed to blind him, the lack of planning, the list seemed to go on and on.

"I- . . . . I don't know." said Sonic dumbly as he scratched the back of his head in an embarrassed manner.

The female Reaper didn't seem surprised at Sonic's answer. She didn't expect him to know anyways, it was her job to show mortals the error of their ways and make sure that they wouldn't die the same way again. Lilith shot the hedgehog a warm smile and sat down on a large piece of torn cement wall behind her. She then crossed her legs.

"You sure you don't know?" she asked playfully.

Her questions made Sonic feel a bit stupid and he felt like a student being thrown suddenly under the teacher's mean glare. The hero searched his mind for any possible answer, but nothing seemed usable. His legs locked him in place, looking down at the ground dumbly. A thought then came into his head, he thought it was a stupid answer at first but it was probably better then saying nothing at all.

"I dunno, probably because I was scared, or because maybe because I wasn't really sure of myself." said Sonic finally, as if forcing the answer out of him. The Reaper giggled at the answer, knowing that it was wrong. Sonic then tried to find other answers. "It's because Eggman's stronger then me, or maybe I wasn't really focusing at the time."

Still no clarification that he was right or wrong was given to him and Sonic was slowly starting to feel like a moron. What was he missing? What had he overlooked? Lilith wasn't really the patient type and she was never really good with Near Death Experiences. She would definitely feel better if she just told him the answer, but it didn't work like that. Instead, she had to give hints.

"You used the word 'I' a lot in your crappy explanation, why?" she asked curiously.

Sonic was starting to get better at the game and he announced his answer in a somewhat sure tone.

"Because Eggman's my problem, he's my enemy and the villain that I fi-"

"Wrong," said Lilith plainly, stopping Sonic before he finished his statement.

Her words confused Sonic. The hedgehog looked at the large doctor standing over his physical form, the doctor's maniacal smile still adorning his face. For the longest of time, Eggman had brought up large robot armies and a weapon of massive destruction. And every time Sonic had thwarted him. Ever since he could remember, Eggman was his enemy, the malicious villain that was the pun of every fat joke. Now he had changed into this monster. But why wasn't he his enemy anymore?

Sonic looked at Lilith with a serious glare, almost matching his ebony rival's cold look. "What do you mean?" he asked.

Lilith got out of her seat and walked out in front of Eggman. She seemed a bit irritated by Sonic's incorrect answers, but she couldn't help it. Sonic wasn't one of the brightest people she had ever met so of course the hedgehog couldn't find the answer by himself.

"A long time ago, this bastard," she pointed a finger at Eggman. "was your enemy." her voice was a bit scornful. "You keep going on and on about how you should beat him because you're so damn used to it." Sonic was still confused and he just payed attention. "Think out of the box Sonic!" she yelled angrily, making Sonic jump. She had more important things to do then teach some retard values. But her yelling did seem to clear his thoughts and he felt like he was slowly starting to find the answer. "HE'S NOT YOUR ENEMY ANYMORE!" she yelled as she stretched her left arm to face her left side.

Mist and electricity started to flutter and spark into reality besides the Reaper. The mist started to form colors and images that were blurred and incoherent, and yet, they seemed familiar to Sonic. Slowly and carefully the images started to form the bodies of some very familiar faces. The images formed into his dearest of friends and the mist soon turned into a hologram-like image of Amy, Tails, Knuckles, Shadow, Cream and every single one of his friends stood in front of the azure hero, a smile on all of their faces. A last person then started to appear in front of the group, the last image was that of a cocky blue hedgehog, flashing a smile that Sonic hadn't used in months due to fear. It was an image of himself.

"Eggman's not just my enemy anymore," said Sonic calmly, finally realizing what he had been missing. The hedgehog then walked forward and took the place of his holographic self. Lilith calmed down and crossed her arms, an impressed smile on her face. The azure hero felt a sense of fulfillment now, as if his lust for adventure had been renewed. Sonic looked at Lilith, the same cocky, trademark grin on his face.

"He's our enemy."

Lilith smirked at the sight, mission accomplished.

The images faded away and darkness started to surround the hedgehog. The hero then looked at Lilith as she drew her hood once again. As the darkness started to obscure Sonic's view he could hear Lilith's last words.

"Finish this one," she said, before the darkness engulfed him, "hero."

* * *

_I learned a very valuable lesson that day._

_That standing with my friends is much more powerful then standing alone._

_I thought that Eggman and I were supposed to be forever locked in some eternal battle._

_I was wrong._

_There are lots of people around me who would gladly help take down that maniacal bastard. _

_My best of friends_

_And even people who are willing to set aside their differences against me and stand with me._

_There's hope_

_And that's the only thing we need to keep on fighting._

_

* * *

_

Pain slowly started to manifest itself everywhere on Sonic's body. He felt tired, his muscles felt like they were on fire, and his head felt like it was bashed with a hammer. His legs felt constricted and aflame, and he knew the reason why. Sonic slowly opened his eyes, Eggman's brawny form towering over him his insane smile on his lips. The hedgehog's heart had started up again, but he was in no shape to move again. An insane laugh filled the air and Eggman threw his head back in joy.

"Get the hell off of him!" yelled an angry, yet familiar voice.

A large yellow bolt of Chaos Energy rammed into Eggman's head, causing the brute to stagger backwards and off of Sonic's legs. The doctor grasped his face, as if feeling pain for the first time in a long time. Blood started to trickle down the doctor's face out of a large burn wound that seemed to cover his entire right cheek. This was an odd sight. Had Eggman gotten weaker in some way?

"Target sighted, firing automatic weapons." said a monotonous robotic voice, before a stream of bullets rammed into Eggman's chest.

Some of the bullets seemed to just fall off of the doctor's body, but some bullets left a small bean sized bruise on Eggman's abdomen as they bounced off. A large red and black robot, its machine gun integrated arms pointed at Eggman, fired rapidly at the doctor as an ebony hedgehog stood next to the metallic warrior. The ebony hedgehog had his hand pointed at the doctor and a small flicker of energy was starting to build up. Omega was keeping the doctor at bay while Shadow charged up for another Chaos Lance. Shadow looked irritated and annoyed at Eggman's presence, anyone could tell by the smirk on the ebony hedgehog's face.

Sonic then felt his body getting pulled backwards, and he could feel the rouge gravel being rubbed against his sore back. The blue hedgehog looked up to see who was aiding him and he found a panicking pink hedgehog and a nervous golden fox pulling him across the concrete street. Tails and Amy, thankfully they were unharmed.

"Espio! Charmy!" called the fox over the sound of gunfire. "Grab Knuckles! He's down, but not out!" yelled Tails in a leader-like tone.

Sonic turned his head to the side to find a purple chameleon and a bee kneel down and lift a bruised and beaten echidna out of a crater. Knuckles was covered with his own blood, his body wrecked, but still usable in the next battle if there ever was one. The echidna's two comrades started to heft the Crimson Insanity back, along with Sonic. Knuckles amazed Sonic. After taking such an intense beating and even smiling in the face of death, the echidna was still alive. That was either a miracle or a horrible curse.

Eggman turned to face Omega as the bullets continued to hit his chest, an angered expression across the doctor's face. The burn on his face was still there and it bled freely. Something was affecting his body and making his regeneration slower and slower by the second.

"NO! NOT NOW! I CAN'T RUN OUT OF BLACK BLOOD RIGHT WHEN I'M ABOUT TO WIN!" yelled the doctor as he charged Sonic.

"Oh, no you don't." said a gruff, familiar voice before a large green croc zoomed past Sonic and into Eggman.

A loud thud filled the air as the croc smashed into the doctor. With his arms pressed against Eggman's massive body, Vector pushed the behemoth back, trying to give Sonic more time to get away. For a long time Sonic hadn't seen his friends, and now they were coming together to save his life. Before, the azure hero was blind, relying on his own strength, thinking that he was the only hero. But now, on the brink of consciousness, he realized that he was wrong. There were other heroes ready to jump into the battle alongside him, ready to fight whatever battle that was in their way with the courage of an entire army.

Vector gained some extra footing and he shoved the doctor a couple steps back before falling back. Juggernaut Egglings started to appear left and right, out of the shadows and out of alleyways, roaring in anger at their injured master. The ground started to vibrate the guttural roars and Sonic could feel them as he was dragged into the back of a large army personnel carrier. Knuckles was taken into another vehicle and Sonic felt safe knowing that both of them had made it out alive.

Sonic never got to see what happened next, because he blacked out once he had reached the truck. The truck got away and Vector, Shadow and Omega retreated along with them. The hero had made it, injured and battered, but still alive. That's all that really mattered.

* * *

**An Hour Later**

Deep in the confines of an old metal laboratory, where thick cobwebs had gathered and where the old chemicals had evaporated and disappeared, a tall broad figure stood in the darkness. In front of the brute was a tall array of video screens that were layered with dust. He hadn't looked at the screens in months, and yet now he wished they were on so he could watch something of decent value. His head was facing the ground in solace, and his erratic thoughts flew around in his mind. He wasn't planning anymore, he was daydreaming and cursing at himself for not fulfilling his dream.

"_That hedgehog is just so hard to kill." _thought the doctor as his weight sat on top of a large metal chair which he hadn't used in months.

The chair buckled under his weight and every time he moved it squeaked loudly from the un-oiled and rusted hinges. At any other time the chair would've felt inviting and comfortable, now it felt unfamiliar and awkward to sit in. It was built for a fat, genius; not for a brawny, psychopath.

"_He's still got hope . . . lots of it."_

The grunt looked forward, feeling a familiar presence that was both familiar and unwanted. It had been a long time since he had felt that presence and he honestly thought he had gotten rid of it. But with his growing insanity, it wasn't a surprise that his imaginary friend was back.

"How do we get rid of hope?" asked a voice from behind Eggman.

Eggman knew who the voice belonged to. It belonged to his insanity, his own craziness made real. The thought didn't scare him anymore, he accepted the fact that his psychotic desires had finally manifested into something useful. Reise walked up behind Eggman, the delusions black coat swaying behind him and a smile on his face. He placed a hand on the doctor's shoulder. The delusions touch felt warm and unimaginably real. Eggman didn't pay much attention to Reise though, his mind was really trying hard to give off the illusion that someone was really there with him.

The doctor then looked at the ground and continued to think. Some of his plans didn't make any sense, his insanity mixing in with his dwindling intelligence. Eggman then looked forward at the dusty computer console as an idea hit him.

"You don't get rid of Hope," said the doctor as his insane smile spread across his lips. "You get rid of the people that have it."

* * *

**What? You think I was going to end it so soon? **

**After a near death experience Sonic has learned a very valuable lesson. Will he put it to good use? Or die trying? All will be answered in the sequel 'Turning Point.'**

**Please Review!  
**


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